Ricardo Brey, “Joy” (2018), mixed media, 14 1/8 x 25 1/8 x 31 3/8 inches (courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York. © Ricardo Brey/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)
“Modernism — and modern art — would never exist without bicycles.” That’s the claim made by a new group exhibition at Manhattan’s Susan Inglett Gallery, Re: Bicycling, curated by David Platzker in collaboration with Alex Ostroy, founder of the eponymous NYC cycling label. Through more than 20 works spanning more than a century, from the Industrial Revolution to the present, the show pays homage to the wondrous two-wheeled vehicle and its awesome potential for autonomy and freedom.
When we think of bicycles and modern art, one of the first works to come to mind is Marcel Duchamp’s “Bicycle Wheel” (1913) the earliest of the conceptual artist’s provocative Readymades.
