Seonna Hong at Oliver Kamm
Seonna Hong, 'Retreat', 2006
Acrylic, charcoal and thread on canvas, 60 x 48 inches
Korea-born California artist Seonna Hong, known for her animation work for Nickelodeon, is showing her dark but charming narrative paintings at Oliver Kamm 5BE. The young girls who reside in Hong's world always wear dresses and maryjanes. They encounter trees, bears, birds and even horses and interact with them in mysterious ways. Danger, retreat, introspection and the distant hum of puberty are standing themes. "Self Defeating" (2006) depicts a pretty Asian waif absent-mindedly sawing off the branch she's perched on. An enormous bear sits in a red wagon as the little girl turns her back to him in "A Bear of a Bear," (2006). These large acrylic works, often embellished with thread or bits of additional canvas, strike a compelling balance between the ominous world and the comfort we find in it. As the artist succinctly tells me, "Nature is pretty powerful."
Until 26 May, www.5begallery.com
Eva Rothschild at 303
There's still time to experience Eva Rothschild quietly spectacular solo exhibition at 303 Gallery. Rothschild, for her first New York show, has created a group of sculptural distillations that is impossible to forget. With their sharp angled edges and barren facades, the works entice us despite themselves. Alternatively impish and perverse, Rothschild's magical use of humble materials such as lanyard leather evokes the schoolyard and s/m in equal measure. "All For you" (2007) is a huge black witch's apple and fallen disco ball with a spidery limb and dormant energy that make it seem ambulatory. "White Wedding" (2007) is a dangling ring of metal with white locks of hair-like leather streaming to the floor evokes a modernized Native American dreamcatcher. Rothschild's explorations of two and three dimensions are easily the most powerful sculptural works currently on display in Chelsea.
Until 26 May, www.303gallery.com
ASSUME VIVID ASTRO FOCUS at John Connelly Presents
Eli Sudbrack and company have expanded their vocabulary slightly from the usual decorative Psychedelia for the current show at John Connelly Presents. The entire gallery and everything in it is bound and gagged with tape and material containing 3-D texts. To enter, art lovers must remove their shoes, wear drag queen goggles, forget history and try not to feel silly navigating in the space. For the opening performers from Julie Atlas Muz to a tall deity in a rubber facemask did their thing in a boxy theater-within-a-gallery. By sticking your head into a large fabric sock some in the crowd were able see inside the life-sized panorama. There may be a fine line between drinking from the trough of those who came before and derivative nostalgia, but since anyone is invited, it is difficult not to enjoy the temporary vintage 3-D house that AVAF has built.
Until 30 June, www.johnconnellypresents.com
Rebel Rebel at Anna Kustera
Collier Schorr, 'Kid', 2007
Black and white photograph, edition 1 of 5
20 x 16 inches
The homo Swiss photographer Karlheinz Weinberger experienced a surge of interest in his photographic work from the 70s and 80s. "Rebel Rebel: Remembering Karlheinz Weinberger (1921-2006)" traces his influences to several photographers working today. His sexy non-sexual photos of 1960s Zurich youth culture, with its bowdlerized American hero styles, have long been a part of the work of artists from Wolfgang Tillmans to Collier Schorr. Although Tillmans is absent from the party here, the images of Ryan McGinley, Walter Pfeiffer and Schorr share the stage with early Weinbergers. If McGinley's work seemed unoriginal to viewers before, this show will not make any new converts for the charming but arguably overrated young star. Schorr, a notoriously exacting perfectionist in her commercial and gallery work, fares better with her brilliant take on the mutability of gender and sexuality. For anyone who thinks the little pink BUTT magazine is on a par with the advent of cubism, this show and all of Weinberger works sets the record...er, straight.
Until 25 May, www.kusteratiltongallery.com
MR. at Lehmann Maupin
Mr., 'Your Girls', 2007
acrylic on canvas. 64 × 89.5 × 1.3 inches
Mr., a former protégé of Anime art star Takashi Murakami, has created a carnival of large-eyed manga characters in painting and enormous sculpture. It's easy to love the young girls and boys who live in a coloring book and vie for our attention. Each of the large wall works takes on cartoony but photographic qualities as the kids in the portraits look directly at us as if posing for our snapshot. Intended or not, there's a distinct, if slight, whiff of kiddie porn in all of Mr.'s works At the crowded opening the artist dressed in a costume and wore the headpiece on his butt and climbed a ladder as gallery goers wandered and shook hands with his candy-colored creations. All this as Godfather Murakami reluctantly allowed a few snapshots of himself and his antsy driver paced the sidewalk in front of the gallery.
Until 23 June, www.lehmannmaupin.com
Doug McClemont
Doug McClemont is the former Editor-in-Chief of HONCHO. He is currently writing about his adventures as a mortician.
)
)
)