Picks
Christopher Chambers
I once had a job in an art gallery. I suppose the
designation “art handler” would best describe my duties of patching walls,
building crates, and installing shows, as well as just sort of hanging around
(which used to drive me crazy). I even ran an art space of my own for a while.
But when I walk into a gallery and see half a dozen people typing away and
looking most diligent, I can’t help but wonder, “What the heck are they all
doing?” I used to know an art dealer who was always chatting away on the phone
in French. It turns out that most of the time she was giving the babysitter
instructions or blabbing with her formidable pals. These thoughts are in
regards to a recent stroll down Power Block, West 24th Street. At
Mary Boone, Ron looked almost lonely, but always makes a good busy, show of it,
and there are usually a couple of dashing young men dashing back and forth. The
new paintings by Ross Bleckner on view were pretty weak, but none the less, the
red dots were prominently displayed. His designs would make really nice scarves
or pillowcases. In fact I purchased a Bleckner shirt at Agnes B as gift for
someone, but she returned it later, stating that it made her “look fat.” Ah
well. He might also try his hand at neckties and boxer shorts. Next door to
M.B.’s at Charley Cowles’ were quite good, gray, painterly, spaced out
biomorphic abstractions only slightly stale by Darren Waterston. Across the
street at Ramis Barquet hung some really excellent paintings by Ray Smith of
swirling numbers. Inspired stuff! The Howard Hodgkin paintings at Gagosian were
unbelievably bad. Once again, I am left wondering. As I write this I still
intend to get back to the block to see the show at Mike Weiss. Michael Zansky’s
lens art at Briggs Robinson Gallery offers us glimpses into another world,
well, actually it’s this world, but contorted by optical devices. This sense of
remove from the subject conceptually distorts and disorients the viewers,
placing us on the “other side.” It can be a pleasantly unsettling experience.
Something about the lenses – four eyes, and whatnot – seems intelligent; one
definitely gets the impression that this is brainy art. And downtown, a Berlin
based artist, who calls himself simply “Bara”, inaugurated the EZ Gallery on
the Lower East Side. The title of the display is An American Funeral
style=’font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana’>. It is centered around several
droopy, ghoulish concrete castings of Halloween masks. There are some very
aggressive pencil drawings that feature skulls and German words as well as a
number of stark expressionist paintings on paper. There’s also a bit of trash
strewn about to keep it real. This spring there will be an exhibition there
about banking – several artists relate their experiences with the industry.
Right now the space is being run as a project space by appointment. Phone ahead
to 917-497-7200 or e-mail for upcoming events: egon@ezhelp.us.
