Leslie Feely
M-F 10am-6pm
The Leslie Feely art gallery made its way to this landmarked building on East 68th Street after being established for over twenty years. Though the outside facade could not be tampered with, Renowned Architect Frank Gehry was hired to address the interior, an inviting space that does not compete with the beautiful works of art, but highlights them.
Leslie Feely has a specific focus on modern and contemporary works with an emphasis on paintings. When I visited in the summer of 2015, the gallery was showing an exhibit with new subject matter from James Prosek, described as “a naturalist in a contemporary context.”
The exhibit, “James Prosek: A Walk in the Woods” was filled with fantastical works. There were animals portrayed in a simplistic way, not unlike classic Japanese Art, but often in chimerical forms. For example, there were paintings of cobras with peacock heads and a parrotfish with the wings and beak of the bird for which is it named. I also admired the full-wall murals painted to look like black and white bird silhouette identification charts, often with a colorful beast in the foreground. A few sculptural pieces, such as a birch bark wreath sporting a single, solitary branch, dotted the walls. The whole gallery was transformed into a whimsical menagerie.
