Shadow Play

Calder Shadows, which opened last week at Adam Lindemann’s Upper East Side gallery Venus Over Manhattan, is two shows in one. First there are the exquisite mobiles and stabiles by the sculptor Alexander Calder, eleven in all including a wire “portrait” from 1929 and the tabletop piece “Bronze Quadrilateral” from 1960. But even more mesmerizing are the shadows these pieces cast on the gallery’s walls and floor. In the moody, meticulously lit space, they effectively eclipse the actual work. And that is exactly the point.

Calder Shadows *in on view at Venus Over Manhattan, 980 Madison Avenue, 3*rd floor, NYC, through December 21.