Skarstedt Chelsea Debuts With Andy Warhol and Yves Klein

A rendering of the entryway for the new Skarsted Gallery in Chelsea. Photo: courtesy Selldorf Architects.

Skarstedt Gallery‘s third location (in addition to branches on the Upper East Side and in London) opens tomorrow with an exhibition of work by Andy Warhol and Yves Klein. The former digs of Haunch of Venison, which closed abruptly last year, has been redesigned by Selldorf Architects. The new location, which fills an entire freestanding building of over 6,000 square feet, will be used primarily to host historical exhibitions.

The inaugural show pairs Klein’s 1961 “Fire Paintings” with Warhol’s “Oxidations” (1977–78). Working in a French destructive testing laboratory, Klein began burning abstract forms onto paper using a blowtorch, a more dangerous version of the historic light-based heliograph photography technique.

Warhol’s paintings were also experiments utilizing urine and metallic paint to create works that, while Abstract Expressionistic in appearance, are a satirical critique of the physical act of painting. The Warhol/Klein show represents the first time that the two seminal bodies of work, both subverting important art movements, have been shown together.

Yves Klein and Andy Warhol: Fire Paintings and Oxidation Paintings” will be on view May 8–June 21, 2014.


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