Franklin Evans
“2008/2009 < 2009/2010”
Sue Scott Gallery
September 9 – October 24
The opening for this show was fantastic. There were so many beautiful working women there, wearing things like leather mini skirts and see-through blouses… With strips of colored tape, faxes, and sans-serif type all over the floor and walls, I felt like I was in one of my favorite sub-genres of “adult” video: Office Erotica, but specifically for art-lovers.
I came back the next day, and while most of the professional class had left, there was still a charge in the room. Stage markings were placed around the gallery, paired with crumpled balls of colored tape and paper. The floor was covered with old press releases, and heady reading (by the likes of Saul Anton and Arthur Danto) cornered every room. Was this an arena for the power/sex games of the cultural elite? What about the floor stains? One was in navy, another in taupe. My imagination was running wild!
As I pictured writhing, entangled art-world limbs and torsos, I realized I was in a place where the dealer, art-handler, artist, and desk-girl were all interchangeable. Soon after, I remembered that I myself sometimes wore the pants of an artist, a gallerist, and a critic. I began considering all the possibilities as I left to go get a Red Bull.
Carter
“And Within Area Although”
Salon 94 Freemans
September 9 – October 24
Like Madonna, Prince, Liberace, and Cher, Carter goes by one name. What does this mean? You might think, “nothing” – after all, Carter has had a modest career compared to the other four mega-stars. But closer inspection reveals intriguing similarities. 1: interest in chandeliers, glass orbs and candles. 2: interest in retro-glamour (i.e. “Voguing.”) 3: preference for vintage black & white (see Number 2.) And 4: wavy hair should be cultivated and maintained.
The theory I would like to put forth is that there is most likely a small race of one-named super-creatures walking among us. They can be distinguished by their refined artistry in many forms, the characteristics mentioned above, and of course, by their single names.
“Hellzapoppin”
PS122 Gallery
September 12 – October 4
Like a lot of people, I sometimes like to seek out something horrific to get the blood going. Most people don’t want to be shot, chainsawed, humiliated, gangbanged, beaten, jizzed on, or exploded, but they do want to watch it happen to other people, usually on TV or the internet, for their enjoyment. How else can you explain Jackass 1 and 2, Two Girls One Cup, TMZ, The Saw movies, CSI, and The Miss America Pageant?
I never thought I’d get this kind of abject pleasure out of an art show, but lo and behold, I wandered into “Hellzapoppin,” curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud, featuring the work of Christy Singleton, George Jenne, and Erika Keck, and stumbled upon the fine art equivalent of South Park. And it was good. No: great. Singleton’s sexed-out demon/vixen sculptures (and their kids) are both alluring and frightening, while Jenne’s jam-packed, kitsch-encrusted objects look like props from a future Clockwork Orange sequel. And to top it off, Keck’s hypersexual punishment-paintings evoke the savagery of Francis Bacon, if he’d had a sense of humor – a must-see is her painting of a nude, pre-teen girl reclining in the sunlight, rendered with the tender sensibility of Balthus, but topped off with the head of a melancholy and somewhat winsome Adolph Hitler.
Zippora Fried
“Trust Me. Be Careful.”
On Stellar Rays
September 9 – October 25
Blue jeans levitate angered croissants. Rapidly, Japanese pajamas proliferate to include brotherhood, Halloween, ovaries and a tire. Proof slips thwarted over gnomes for breakfast. Foreboding. Backwash (robust purple fountain became intermediary) discovered 12 iPhones interwoven, so blankly calmed. An avatar, capturing charity manicures only disagree post-communal underdog. Reverent genealogy solemly palpitates. Falafel ruptured dolphin.
This is the only way to describe it.
Michael Patterson-Carver
Small A Projects
September 9 – October 18
I was never a fan of the late 90’s moniker “Projects” as a surrogate name for “Gallery:” it’s a group of paintings, people, not an arch-gravity dam. But some galleries do feel like safe-houses for the eager and nerdy who have missions to complete. Such is the case here.
The work consists mainly of pencil and ink drawings of semi-cartoon figures of all races and ages (each somewhat resembling a cross between the comic-strip character “Cathy” and an ancient Chinese warrior statue) holding identical signs that say “We Need Work.” The scenes are only distinguished by a different city/title in the bottom-right corner, such as “San Francisco,” “Flint,” or “Philadelphia.” (Rounding out the show, a few less effective works cornily illustrate current American topics such as Katrina and the prison system.)
This little art project manages to give the current unemployment bummer a monumental status. The drawings are sort of like anti-WPA murals: instead of feeling significant and uplifting, they are somehow both unimposing and panic-inducing. Which is funny…yet sad. I’m guessing this artist will have a pretty hard time getting any kind of government funding.