A few weekends ago, Williamsburg staffer Ali took advantage of the pre-spring weather and went gallery hopping in Chelsea.  Read along as she takes us back to high school chemistry class and beyond!

The other day was a warm and perfect pre-spring day so I went for a walk in Chelsea to see some art. Little did I know, I’d be taking a trip to the most beautiful science class of all time.  Tara Donovan’s “Untitled (Mylar)” at The Pace Gallery is a breathtakingly enormous formation of tiny handcrafted Mylar spirals that look (from up close) like flowers or sea creatures. From afar, the piece looks like an overdeveloped molecular creature—a huge specimen from space or the future.

Next up was video artist Gary Hill’s piece “of surf, death, tropes & tableaux: The Psychedelic Gedankenexperiment” at Gladstone Gallery.  3D glasses provided, the video piece showcases the artist dressed in a lab coat, looking like a mad scientist while holding different scientific props. The audio is a backwards, inaudible rambling about LSD and art. In this Chelsea classroom everything is interesting, engaging, and sensual but nothing quite makes sense. The seats are comfortable and fun but also difficult to sit on; the lecture is attention-grabbing but also void of recognizable meaning; the 3-D glasses are dizzying and disorienting and fashionable.  A hidden (and incredibly dark) room at Gladstone Gallery hold another giant molecule that can only been seen for a split second at a time, when a blinding light flashes. This room is a mix between a magic trick and a neon & dry ice science demonstration–shocking and amazing.  Go, go, go!

Thanks Ali!