Paper Monument

Cris Brodahl
"The Yellow Tree"
Marc Foxx
September 8 – October 13

If Magritte time-traveled to the 21st century, got a sex change, an MA in Marxist Feminism, The Best of David Bowie on vinyl, and a "penchant for fashion magazines", he might be Cris Brodahl. Happily, the laws of physics prevent this.

Tom Sachs
"Space Program"
Gagosian Gallery
September 8 – October 13

Drinking the free whiskey in Sachs's fake space capsule equals the glee I had as a 12-year-old in a tree house. But then , I never called my tree house art. In Artforum, Sachs candidly declared that he wasn't a genius. His most recent show underlines this.

Tatzu Nishi
Blum and Poe
September 15 – October 27

The orange glow of Tatzu Nishi's monumental street lamp chandelier sent me into dusky memories of a summery suburban youth: kick ball, quiet streets, manicured lawns.

David Rathman
"You're Too Old To Understand"
Mary Goldman Gallery
September 8 – October 13

Though the Ashcan School-meets-Pettibon paintings of David Rathman have a certain charm, I was more excited by the new coat of blue paint on the front of the gallery, almost Phoenician in its brightness.

Josh Agle (SHAG)
"Conspicuous Consumption"
Billy Shire Fine Arts
September 15 – October 20

I usually don't bother to go into this gallery, and after this show I will resume that fine habit.

Amy Bessone
"Body & Paint"
David Kordansky Gallery
September 8 – October 13

From the press release: "Although her models are kitsch objects, Bessone paints with sincerity…." Since kitsch is always sincere, this can be reduced to mathematical simplicity. Amy Bessone's Paintings = Kitsch. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Lari Pittman
Regen Projects
September 15 – October 20

Flat, polite paintings from the poodle of Los Angeles art. But who cares, they're almost all sold. Profit: somewhere in the low bazillions.

Francis Alys
"The Politics of Reversal"
Hammer Museum
September 29 – February 10

His recorded performances on the streets of Mexico City wrenched the poetic from dire political circumstances. The recent work, not so much. Meaning narrows, then evaporates, like a river becoming a ditch.


			Andrew Masullo "Paintings 1992 – 2007" Daniel Weinberg Gallery September 8 – October 13 Masullo and Mark Grotjahn should have a fistfight over whose nearly-identical kaleidoscopic paintings are thoughtlessly beautiful and whose are beautifully thoughtless.

			Anthony Goicolea "The Septemberists" Sandroni Rey September 15 – October 13 Goicolea's thirty-minute video plays like the Bergmanesque sex fantasy of a gay Amish Nazi: male models with faces like bone china silently shearing sheep and de-inking octopi to make their haute-couture outfits.

			Alison Miller ACME. September 8 – October 20 Abstraction on the border of figuration is de rigeur at the moment. Like most of McSweeney's, Allison Miller's well-mannered paintings have all of the play of good art without actually having to say anything serious.

			Stephen G. Rhodes "Ruined Dualisms" Overduin & Kite September 6 – October 17 The country cousins of Beckett's pseudocouples fail to shoot it out on ramshackle screens; Bresson and Blanchot have a posthumous battle royale in a series of double-sided paintings. The gallery littered with detritus like the opulent ruins of a New Orleans mansion, battered to a pulp by the wet fist of a passing hurricane.

			Mark Stockton "1983" Acuna-Hansen September 1 – October 20 A beatific glow emanates from these paintings of Tom Cruise. The Tiger Beat masturbation trove of a gay teenager in 1983.

			Steve Canaday "Black Dog, Green Leash, Orange Sun" Black Dragon Society September 8 – October 20 Why did he go through all the trouble of making paintings when he could have just pasted a few Botero postcards into the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition with stale Twinkie cream?

			"Männerphantasien" Chung King Project September 8 – October 13 Shows like this make me think that everybody under 30 in Germany sits in their closets on Friday night, polishing their grandfather's jackboots and weeping, and then goes to work on Monday to tell their coworkers what a great weekend they had.

			Cris Brodahl "The Yellow Tree" Marc Foxx September 8 – October 13 If Magritte time-traveled to the 21st century, got a sex change, an MA in Marxist Feminism, The Best of David Bowie on vinyl, and a "penchant for fashion magazines", he might be Cris Brodahl. Happily, the laws of physics prevent this.

			Tom Sachs "Space Program" Gagosian Gallery September 8 – October 13 Drinking the free whiskey in Sachs's fake space capsule equals the glee I had as a 12-year-old in a tree house. But then , I never called my tree house art. In Artforum, Sachs candidly declared that he wasn't a genius. His most recent show underlines this.

			Tatzu Nishi Blum and Poe September 15 – October 27 The orange glow of Tatzu Nishi's monumental street lamp chandelier sent me into dusky memories of a summery suburban youth: kick ball, quiet streets, manicured lawns.

			David Rathman "You're Too Old To Understand" Mary Goldman Gallery September 8 – October 13 Though the Ashcan School-meets-Pettibon paintings of David Rathman have a certain charm, I was more excited by the new coat of blue paint on the front of the gallery, almost Phoenician in its brightness.

			Josh Agle (SHAG) "Conspicuous Consumption" Billy Shire Fine Arts September 15 – October 20 I usually don't bother to go into this gallery, and after this show I will resume that fine habit.

			Amy Bessone "Body & Paint" David Kordansky Gallery September 8 – October 13 From the press release: "Although her models are kitsch objects, Bessone paints with sincerity…." Since kitsch is always sincere, this can be reduced to mathematical simplicity. Amy Bessone's Paintings = Kitsch. Couldn't have said it better myself.

			Lari Pittman Regen Projects September 15 – October 20 Flat, polite paintings from the poodle of Los Angeles art. But who cares, they're almost all sold. Profit: somewhere in the low bazillions.

			Francis Alys "The Politics of Reversal" Hammer Museum September 29 – February 10 His recorded performances on the streets of Mexico City wrenched the poetic from dire political circumstances. The recent work, not so much. Meaning narrows, then evaporates, like a river becoming a ditch.

			*–Andrew Berardini*

	*September – October*