Mr.

New York, NY by Thomas Martin- Mr.'s new exhibition at Lehman Maupin's LES space include photographs, a film, and a painting (which doesn't seem to have much relation to the other two). Mr. has taken his critique of Japan's pedophilia subcultures to another level with a team of rag tag preteen girls engaged in war games with their archenemies, a band of older, ruthless punk styled gamers. Cutesy music, outfits and dialog mix with an assortment of butt and crotch shots make for plenty of uncomfortable and/but hilarious moments. Don't bring your mom or 11 year old niece.

Drawn by New York

Chesley Bonestell, "Atom Bombing of New York City" 1950

New York, NY, by Thomas Martin- The New York Historical Society has mounted the first scholarly exhibition of the country's earliest public drawing collection and it's well worth the trip. The exhibit is a grab bag of genres, covering just about every use, as far as I can think of, that drawing has been used for: design sketches, tourist crap, painting studies, illustrations, portraits, historical documentation, art. The show reminds us that artworks are not just aesthetic objects, though much of the show fares well in this category, but also objects of historical import.

Proposed Coat of Arms for New Amsterdam, 1630

Asher B. Durand, "Study of Trees, Catskill Mountains, New York" 1848-9

Linda Besemer At Angles Gallery

Santa Monica, October 25
by Cole

Linda Besemer makes some of the most gorgeous abstract op-art paintings you'll ever see, and most of them consist of nothing BUT acrylic paint-- no support, no ground, just layers and layers of paint hanging on the wall or draped over rods like towels. There were a few shaped panels so she isn't completely insane :-)

It might snow at the World Series in Philly tonight, and yet here in LA it's 90 degrees! WTF is up with that!

If you live in NYC go to Kris' opening November 12 you guys!

SOOTYCK
xo
Cole

Lari Pittman @ Gladstone Gallery

These are easily the best paintings of Lari Pittman's career so far, now on view at Gladstone Gallery. I could not get enough even after seeing the show twice. Giving credit where credit is due, Pittman show us his mastery of compositional and spatial devices accumulated over a four decade career.

Shimon Okshteyn @ Stux Gallery

Excesses of pleasure and pain present themselves in Dangerous Pleasures: New Paintings and Sculpture, the work of Shimon Okshteyn at Stux Gallery.

Amy Elkins @ Yancey Richardson

Hard and fast assumptions of gender codes blur in the works of Amy Elkins at Yancy Richardson. Taken out of the context of floral backdrops, these men are very masculine. Manly men you might say. Elkins successfully subdues the male bravado, not by simply placing floral patterns behind the men, but by also gently allowing the men to show us a vulnerability not always associated with men or masculinity. At the same time, Elkins assumes the role traditionally asserted by male painters (in this case Mattisse comes to mind) as we gaze through her eyes at these men, though for very different ends.

Sharon Core @ Yancey Richardson

Usually when looking at a representational painting people often say "wow, looks just like a photo". Well in the case of Sharon Core's show at Yancey Richardson, it's the opposite. While attending the opening I kept overhearing people say "wow! these are great paintings". It comes as no surprise that Core was once a painter, as I have never witnessed such painterly photographs.