Magic Eye

At first glance, James Siena's paintings and gouaches at PaceWildenstein seem like child's play. These small works ( 8" x 11") first appear to look like a cross between a poor man's Jackson Pollock and the 3-D trickery of Magic Eye. However, I soon became hypnotized and entranced by these painted patterns. Perhaps it was because of the sheer number of them (36), which are liberally spread throughout the large gallery; or their painstaking detail, which sometimes looks like an electrical engineer's schematic; or perhaps it was simply their playfulness. In any case, the show's worth checking out. (Images via PaceWildenstein)