1
Apr/14

DOUG WHEELER: LC 71 NY DZ 13 DW

1
Apr/14
Doug Wheeler, “LC 71 NY DZ 13 DW,” reinforced fiberglass, flat white titanium dioxide latex, LED light, and DMX control, 2013 (photo by Tim Nighswander, Imaging4Art © 2014 Doug Wheeler; courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London)

Doug Wheeler, “LC 71 NY DZ 13 DW,” reinforced fiberglass, flat white titanium dioxide latex, LED light, and DMX control, 2013 (photo by Tim Nighswander, Imaging4Art © 2014 Doug Wheeler; courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London)

David Zwirner
525 West 19th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tuesday – Saturday through April 5, free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
212-727-2070
www.davidzwirner.com

You’re going to want to make your reservation now if you want a chance to experience Doug Wheeler’s mesmerizing, meditative “rotational horizon work” at David Zwirner before it closes on Saturday. For his second solo show at the gallery, the Santa Fe– and Los Angeles–based Light and Space artist has created an immersive infinity environment that resembles the bubble at the end of The Truman Show, a circular room that seems to go on forever. Visitors — those with advance reservations as well as walk-ins, who are likely to have to wait in long lines — first slip paper protectors over their shoes, then walk down a narrow hallway, lured by an inviting light at the end. Only a handful of people at a time are allowed through the rectangular door and into the apparently vast space, which is bathed in shades of white and blue that change ever so slightly, like passing clouds in super-slow motion. The convex floor and the light emanating from the round edge, which mimics the glowing horizon, create an off-balance effect that is at first disconcerting yet pleasurable, then calm and welcoming. In some ways the overall feeling evokes flight, as if you’re floating above the orbiting earth; not coincidentally, Wheeler is a trained pilot. Much like the work of such other seminal Light and Space artists as James Turrell and Robert Irwin, Wheeler’s “LC 71 NY DZ 13 DW” plays with physical reality and an individual’s sense of equilibrium. But perhaps most important, it’s really, really cool.