One is absolutely mesmerized by the multiple dimensions of color, shape and tactility of Reid Stowe’s masterpieces upon entering the Chelsea gallery space. On view through the end of the month, Reid Stowe is said to tread the border of the psychotic and the transcendental. Leaping into the mysterious unknown with his mixed media techniques, viewers become hypnotized by his surrealistic works that unearth the mystical discoveries, materials and visions he has encountered on his sailing adventures around the world.
Stowe is a lifelong mariner, whose endless adventures are transposed unto his work, both physically and spiritually. Incorporating sand, bark, wood, earth and dirt from islands, countries and places he has visited, and experimentally overlaying these sediments upon sails, ropes, flags and other props obtained via voyage, some of his works assumed decades to complete. Ships traditionally exhibit art as décor, figureheads, sculpture, flags and more to inspire and empower through unchartered waters; Stowe draws from this tradition, while mapping his own encounters with fear, mysticism and delight.
On exhibit in the opposite part of the gallery is yet another artist fascinated with aquatic environments–though in a more gravely ominous way: Daniel Lanzilotta. Sustainability activist, his sculptural exhibit, Tell the Truth, showcases his remarkable hand-on engagement with the seemingly useless debris, plastic waste and garbage left frivolously on nature’s beaches. A ‘plastician’, he uses heat and tools to intricately combine and meticulously design intriguing three-dimension sculptures that deliver strong commentaries on overconsumption. Upon closer look, one notices bottle caps, cigarette butts, bottles, bags, food containers and much more philanthropically salvaged from the polluted beaches by the artist the past 24 years for the purpose of inducing closer examination as our ugly habits as humans.
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