Installation shot

It was a good turnout for an opening in the middle of a glorious fall Sunday in Long Island City, Queens. But then again this is not just some small gallery having an opening, but the impressive Fisher Landau Center for Art with three floors of high ceilinged white walls where it displays wonderful works from its large collection of contemporary art.

Carl Andre work

The show is split into two themes: “We are the World : Figures and Portraits” and “Five Decades of Passion Part Two: The Founding of the Center, 1989-1991.” The first floor has works by big names such as Carl Andre, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, Barbara Kruger and John Baldessari. Upstairs there is a nice mixture of work by artists whose work I am very familiar with: Joseph Kosuth, Nan Goldin, and Chuck Close, and those I am not as familiar with: Neil Winokur, Win Knowlton, and Peter Hujar.

Timothy Greenfield Sanders photos

detail, photo of John Baldessari

One wall on the third floor is a who’s who of 1980s artists. Timothy Greenfield Sanders photographed portraits of 20 artists in the mid-1980s, many whose work is in the current show. The exhibition is well-curated with sculpture that plays off of the two-dimensional works.

Bleckner and Ligon works

I particularly enjoyed one pairing on the second floor of a Glenn Lignon work in 6 separate pieces and 6 colors with text juxtaposed with an organic black and white Bleckner work encompassing one whole wall. Almost framing them in was a cedar sculpture by Ursula von Rydingsvard.

Ursula von Rydingsgard sculpture

I also loved the small meeting room off of the third floor gallery which displayed works by Yinka Shonibare. It was a nice way to see those works in more of a domestic space than a gallery or museum setting.