kind of blue

Feb 14

Cristin Tierney Gallery is pleased to present Kind of Blue, a temporary immersive installation by Alois Kronschlaeger in a former retail space below the gallery on the Lower East Side.

Viewed from the street, Kronschlaeger's installation rises like a cresting blue swell inside of the space. Beneath the undulating blue forms is a 1500 square-foot gridded structure of 2 x 2-inch wooden planks, covered with almost 500 yards of blue Ultrasuede fabric. Kronschlaeger has carved into the framework, creating a topographical landscape that rises and falls as it slopes away from the entrance. The fabric has been carefully bunched and draped over the planks to create an enormous, continuous, rolling wave of vivid blue.

The artwork is designed to be immersive. Pathways in the grid allow visitors to walk around, on top of, and through the work. The interior structure of the piece is gradually divulged as one moves through it; what was soft and pliable on the exterior is revealed to be a highly structured, geometric form underneath.

Kind of Blue is named after the classic album by Miles Davis, which was conceived and recorded in New York City. It is a personal favorite of Kronschlaeger's, who often listens to the album while working in his studio. The nature of Kronschlaeger's installation echoes the central tenet of jazz music: rolling themes and variations occurring within a structured program. On the surface, the blue fabric appears loose and flowing, its exact shape organic and haphazard. But underneath it is in fact a very rigid structure--a support which allows the blue fabric to be "improvisational."

The installation's location on the Bowery is significant. As the oldest thoroughfare in Manhattan, parts of it were likely used thousands of years ago by animals crossing the island to find fresh water. With its undulating blue surface, Kind of Blue references both this search for water as well as the hills of Manhattan's original geography.

Video by Matthias Roeckl, produced by IFILMY.COM

Alois Kronschlaeger

Alois Kronschlaeger, b. 1966, Grieskirchen, Austria

Alois Kronschlaeger (b. 1966) Alois Kronschlaeger is internationally known for his site-specific installations and sculptures, which demonstrate a concern for environment and light, as well as his interest in exploring time, space and color through geometry. His work exists at the intersection between art and architecture; its forms are abstract and the materials simple in the tradition of artists such as Frederick Kiesler and Buckminster Fuller. His work has been exhibited at international institutions and festivals such as the Figge Art Museum (Iowa, 2018), the Bruce Museum of Art and Science (Connecticut), the Yuan Art Museum (Beijing), the Tucson Museum of Contemporary Art (Arizona), the of Contemporary Art (Lima, Peru), and the Festival of Islamic Arts (Sharjah, United Arab Emirates), among others. Since 2011, the artist has produced six public installations of his sculptures in the United States, and from 2015-2023 he has created two site-specific installations in Lima, Peru, two site-specific installations in Mexico City and one in Sarasota, Florida, and a solo exhibition titled: ORDER & DISORDER in CDMX; KIND OF BLUE in NYC and TIME, SPACE, COLOR at Roldan Moderno in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Kronschlaeger currently lives and works between Brooklyn, New York, and Mexico City, and is represented by Cristin Tierney Gallery (New York), Roldan Moderno (Buenos Aires), and Galería Le Laboratoire in CDMX.

https://www.AloisKronschlaeger.com

kind of blue

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