On Vacation--Again

Back in a week or so. Stay tuned for more riveting reviews and catty comments. (Image via nevasport.com)

Bigger Than Lifeless

Believe the lukewarm reviews of Andreas Gursky's recent show at Matthew Marks gallery. I marched in wanting to love this exhibit, but there's something lifeless about it. Perhaps Gursky is o.d.'ing on himself. Many of these large-scale photographs felt like knock-off Gursky images. The artist devotes a lot of wall space to Formula 1 racing teams. (Good God. The Nascar obsession is seeping into the art world.) I've posted what I think are the most successful images from the show. (Images via Matthew Marks gallery)

Shiny, Happy Paintings

These reproductions don't capture it, but Melvin Martinez's paintings at Yvon Lambert gallery are very fishing-lure shiny. Besides using oil and acrylic paints, Martinez decorates these works with lots of glitter and confetti. The show is entitled "Fresh Paint," and the paintings' dominant vertical lines must refer to the image of globs of paint dripping down a canvas. Although the thick paint reminded me of far-out, psychedelic frosting, there is something a little too uniformed and calculated with each painting. (Image via Yvon Lambert gallery)

Faux Real

Here we go again: another "Gotcha" art show. The photograph of the amplifier on the right? Fake. The microwave below? Fake. Like Robert Gober, Kaz Oshiro has created uncanny replicas of electronic devices and small appliances, including scuff marks and coffee stains, on display also at Yvon Lambert gallery. Unlike Gober, Oshiro lets the viewer in on the forgery. The back of each work reveals the sculpture's true materials--canvas and wood. While Gober's work is much more political, Oshiro's stuff is more playful. (Image via Yvon Lambert gallery)

Je Ne Sais Quoi

I consider myself a Francophile, but I have never really dug Edith Piaf. So, I nudged myself to see "La Vie en Rose," a biopic on the singer, hoping that the flick would turn me onto to this French icon. It did. Piaf is sort of like Judy Garland: she belts out songs, and it's her heart and soul that pulls you in, not her vocal skill. Marion Cottilard, who plays Piaf, is A+ and amazing, but this flick is a downer. Each sequence is just another miserable building block in the singer's sad life. (Image via img5.allocine.fr)

Film Art

When you enter D'Amelio-Terras gallery, keep repeating to yourself, "This is not a Cindy Sherman show, this is not a Cindy Sherman show." Sure, black and white photographs that look like old film stills adorn the walls, but the artist behind the camera is Sam Samore. Even though this exhibit is Shermanesque, this show stands on its own. Whereas Sherman's faux film stills tipped their hat to foreign cinema imagery, Samore's photos evoke a 1960s independent streak, more like John Cassavettes. As well, Sherman's work is more enamored of mise-en-scene, while Samore's photos capture film's all-important closeup. The grain is large, the mood serious, the emotions real. (Images via D'Amelio Terras gallery)

Insta-art

I liked Massimo Bartolini's extremely small show (only two works) also at D'Amelio Terras gallery mainly because I thought, "Hey, I could do that." Here's how Bartolini created these paper designs. He folded a large piece of paper into a paper airplane, unfolded it, and then traced the creases with colored pencil. Viola! You just got yourself some art to hang on your wall. Bartolini framed the piece of paper under glass, by the way. The result looks some Cubistic study. I am really going to try to do this. (Image via D'Amelo Terras gallery)

Monster Mashup

Frankenstein and Alice in Wonderland get the conceptual art treatment in Jason Meadows' exhibit at Tanya Bonakdar gallery. And it works. This primarily sculpture/assemblage show not only mixes up imagery from the two literary classics but also borrows concepts from other art forms. For instance, "Monster Marquee" features dual images of Frankenstein's creation on a bathroom mirror cabinet (a reference to Alice's looking glass?). The repetition of the cutout White Rabbit in one sculpture looks like a film strip, a nod to the cinematic art form. (Plus, it captures the druggy mood of the story), and the "Graverobber" work in which four coffins are aligned to form an opening or window, plays on that old literary device of the circle of life and death. (Images via Tanya Bonakdar gallery)

Bits of Crumb

After seeing a small show of R. Crumb's work at David Zwirner's gallery, I may need to rethink my dogmatic view that cartoons don't deserve to be in an art gallery. I was entertained. This exhibit felt more like a sampling of the cult figure's drawings, many of which are doodles on paper place mats from restaurants in France, where he now lives. After seeing Terry Zwigoff's 1994 documentary on the artist (can't believe I just described him as that), I've been a fan. I liked the restaurant doodles (including the stains) the most, as well as the panels that featured the writings of Charles Bukowski. (Crumb and Bukowski--now there's a match.) (Images via David Zwirner gallery)

On Vacation

Back next week. Stay tuned for more riveting reviews and catty comments.

Army of One

I checked out Yue Minjun's show at Max Protetch gallery only because Yue is hyperhot. (One of his paintings recently sold for $1.4 million). With this show, Yue remains consistent. Known for works that feature multiple self-portraits with a big smile and laughing, the artist has created 25 statues of himself, entitled "25 Contemporary Terra Cotta Warriors," referring to the First Emperor of China's Terra Cotta Warriors in Shanxi Province. When I visited the gallery, a staff member was giving each statue a sponge bath. I have to admit that his unintentional performance art piece was far more interesting than Yue's replicas. (Images via Max Protetch gallery)