"Welcome 2 the Jungle" at DCKT Contemporary
Jonathan Reinish
One of the newest and freshest additions to the mix in Chelsea is DCKT Contemporary on West 24th Street. In the company of blue chip powerhouses and in proximity to relative newcomers, principals Dennis Christie and Ken Tyburski are seasoned players with a singular approach to showing new artists. Christie is a veteran of Charles Cowles’ establishment; Tyburski worked used to worth with Paul Morris and The Project. Their first exhibition in the DCKT, "Welcome 2 the Jungle," is a group show of their favorite young artists.
After this show, you’ll really want to check out these thirteen DCKT regulars in future shows. The work is ripe, and there’s a collective sense of wit and fun. And it all looks new. Works especially of note from "Welcome 2 the Jungle" include "Who Am I?" by Alabama native Helen Altman. A strong blast of faux-naif beckons the viewer, drawn to the powder-sweet and quite unsettling satin-trimmed baby’s blanket on which is embroidered a silhouette of a springtime birds’ nest. The young birds crane their fragile necks in anticipation of food–not seeing the prowling snake in the branches just above the unsuspecting nest. It’s the best kind of creepy.
I’ve been so drawn to Tony de Los Reyes’ work since seeing his most recent show at DCKT’s former space. His iconography appear to refer in mood and object to both high-seas maritime art and the Dutch tulipmania phenomenon as well as florid, beautiful Netherlandish still lives; the sky blue and pure white of his palette reminds the experienced viewer of tilework in the Delft tradition. The lines are painterly and soft. His works are executed, though, in high-gloss oil alkyd paint; despite the expected appearance of any work with such classic antecedents, de Los Reyes’ work is graphic and spare: and, perhaps most importantly, shows you never to judge a work of art by references that may just end up being your own assumptions.
"Poppycock" is Maria E. Pineres’ piece. The "Welcome to the Jungle" allusion is too prescient to pass up in this case as Pineres’ piece is a needlework mounting of Guns n’ Roses frontman Axl Rose: arms crossed, familiar tattoos (familiar if you had the 4’x6’ Appetite for Destruction tour poster from Wembley Stadium in your bedroom) red bandana, long red hair, pout. He is depicted against a background of beautifully rendered Art Nouveau poppies. Are these an allusion to William Morris’s early patterns? Rose’s rumored heroin use? Or simply a beautiful if delightfully and subversively incongruous, background? Whichever are Pineres’ intentions for the piece itself, it fits directly into her oeuvre (previous needlework subjects include samplers of Eminem and Justin Timberlake)–while pushing it forward. Much like DCKT Contemporary in Chelsea.
DCKT Contemporary is located at 552 West 24th Street, Second Floor, between 10th and 11th Avenues. The Gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am-6 pm.
