ART & DESIGN

A Blind Cut at the Marlborough in Chelsea

Blind Cut, a new exhibition co-curated by Jonah Freeman and Vera Neykov, opens tonight at the Marlborough gallery in Chelsea. The title refers to a card trick wherein the deck appears to be have...


blog-Ruscha%2C-Sudden-Spurt-of-Activity%2C-1972%2C-gunpowder-on-paper%2C-11.5-x-29-in.jpg

Blind Cut, a new exhibition co-curated by Jonah Freeman and Vera Neykov, opens tonight at the Marlborough gallery in Chelsea. The title refers to a card trick wherein the deck appears to be have been shuffled when it actually has not, a telling title for this outpost of the Blue Chip Marlborough gallery family. Now helmed by Max Levai, the 24-year-old son of Marlborough president Pierre Levai, the space is undergoing a reshuffling of its own, aiming to attract a younger audience while still retaining the polish of the Marlborough name.

The exhibition explores fiction and deception through a mix of more than 40 heavy-hitters, like Ed Ruscha and Sherrie Levine, and newer names like Julieta Aranda. Spanning several generations, from Dada to the present, it’s an impressive nod to the gallery’s deep history and new trajectory.

“The idea came from a discussion we were having about fiction and deception as an impulse that was turning up in a variety of places in culture, from media pranks to false identities to materialist trickery,” say Freeman and Neykov. “One of the objectives of the show was to explore the theme from a variety of angles. So, for instance, the John Dogg exemplifies the impulse towards a surrogate identity.”

“Ryan Gander points toward the use of fictional narrative as a support structure,” say the curators.

“Craig Kalpakjian is a good example of a medium being presented as one thing and then being another,” say Freeman and Neykov.

Blind Cut is open through February 18 at the Marlborough Gallery, 545 West 25th St., marlboroughgallery.com