Yeah, well...

Bill Henson

Robert Miller Gallery
524 West 24th St. [btw 10th & 11th Aves.], 212.366.4774
http://www.robertmillergallery.com/

Closed

Ok, so they’re gi’normous nudes and partials of young nubiles mixed with late summer dusk shots of children’s toys abandoned in the grass. They’re gorgeous. Sue me.

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Bashley Ackerton

Ashley Bickerton

Lehmann Maupin
540 West 26th St [btw 10th & 11th Aves.], 212.255.2923

Closed

A.B. is the Jimmy Buffett of the art world having abandoned civilization some time ago [though Bickerton chose the South Pacific over Florida and seems to prefer crystal meth to margaritas]. This show presents a continuation of Bickertons über-cranked hyperreal paintings on wood now with the addition of print elements, aboriginal style patterning and holes. The exhibit also celebrates earlier moments in the artist’s history with some terrific sculptures and combine pieces. The Edge of Things—S. Pacific, though of dubious ecological provenance [it’s made mostly of coral], is a welcome gentle touch amid the psychotropic postcards from paradise.

Quite possibly the first time I’ve had a good time in the plywood pavilion—Tracy Emin’s Soho skankfest notwithstanding.

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What’s on Your Worktable?

Joe Fig

Plus Ultra Gallery
637 West 27th street [btw 11th & 12th Aves.], 212.643.3152
http://www.plusultragallery.com/index.html

Closed

I’m jumping on this show with both feet.

I’m a sucker for models. No, not those willowy creatures who never pay for drinks, I’m a sucker for scale models. I was all over Michael Ashkin before he lost all sense of perspective about his work [pun intended] and I’ll always take a second look at anything that attempts to recreated our world in miniature [one of my first enduring museum recollections is of the scale model Aztec temple on the ground floor of the Brooklyn Museum].

Joe Fig’s project is a very straightforward and very generous endeavor. He lays out for the viewer/listener/reader the work lives of the painters. He does so in a direct and refreshingly artless manner—more Museum of Natural History than MOMA. His work is a gift for the small group of people who actually give a shit about painting [mostly other painters]—a rare glimpse into those things about which we’re probably most curious [what brand of paint do you use?, what kind of table do you have? what’s your day like? Etc…]. It’s the best mix of art and design porn.

With meticulous care and thorough going inventiveness, Fig recreates each artist’s work table and its immediate environs and accompanies it with a fairly brief recording of an interview with each artist. Earphones hang off the pedestals on which the miniatures rest. The respective interviews play as we ogle the minutiae of their lives. The interviews are for the most part short, crisp and on point.

Just the other day Rodney A. asked me if I would ever review after only having seen it on the web. While I never would [we have to have at least one form of unmediated experience left in our lives], nevertheless, I would be able, in a pinch, to get a pretty good idea of Fig’s exhibition by checking out the gallery web site. Like the show the site is a straightforward gift to the viewer.

Artists in the show include a lot of great players from Dana Schutz to Joan Snyder, Chuck Close and a terrific roster in between: e.g. Matthew Ritchie, Will Cotton [he only uses 5 colors!], Karen Davie, Fred Tomaselli, Amy Sillman and Alexis Rockman [see below]. You could spend a couple of hours pouring over these dioramas, to say nothing of the larger piece leftover from an earlier show “April and Eric.” While it is fascinating to look into Gornik and Fischl’s dream-come-true his and her studios, it’s also just too much perfection to bear.

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