Nicole Eisenman
October 30 – December 23, 2009
Leo Koenig Inc.
On bad days, the cartoony figuration of the 00s seemed hamstrung by its own cheerfulness: saccharine palettes, goofy neo-expressionist paint moves, and folksy touches sometimes failed to convey the horror of the decade. It was like a finger puppet show about Abu Ghraib. Eisenman, a forerunner, brilliantly sidesteps this problem by tethering the ebullience of the style to a direct and affecting social narrative. The resulting collision – happy paint, miserable people – captures the mood of stunned desperation now permeating the cultural sector like piss soaking into carpet.
Richard Hawkins
December 10, 2009 – January 23, 2010
Greene Naftali
The alabaster buttocks of Greco-Roman statuary salute Japanese teen haircut models. In the vitrine: David Bowie and Slash get slapped on Francis Bacon reproductions. Collage is for making friends.
Shannon Ebner
“Invisible Language Workshop”
October 30 – December 19, 2009
Wallspace Gallery
Ebner’s cryptic text-pictures recall the linguistic investigations of early conceptual art, and unfold in the gallery like a series of proofs; this is why, perusing the exhibition, I had the not unpleasant sense that I was walking around inside a giant textbook.
“The Irreverent Object: European Sculpture from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s”
November 7 – December 19, 2009
Luhring Augustine
Some real gems here, from Pistoletto’s fabric bale to Kippenberger’s ale can, but I’m tired of sniffing the underwear of the Neo avant-garde.
Rashaad Newsome
“Standards”
October 22 – December 19, 2009
Gallery Ramis Barquet
The collages in the front room (juxtaposed auction-house swag and music-magazine bling) demonstrated, sadly, that luxury is a universal language resistant to all deconstructive operations. The video in the back (dissected hip-hop hand gestures set to Carmina Burana) did something else. It was like channel-surfing late night cable, during a bout of insomnia, and feeling that at any moment the fabric of pop culture was going to rip apart and reveal the true nature of absolute reality.
“Jr. and Son’s”
December 12, 2009 – January 23, 2010
Zack Feuer Gallery
Where everybody knows your name and nobody says you can’t paint pirates.