Chelsea Roundup#1

I’m just going stick to the things worth seeing for the time being. Trust me there will be plenty of time and space dedicated to mockery of the giant puss-pods protruding through the overly loofa’d face of our dearest Chelsea (i.e. “Accidental Modernism” I shit you not, real name of a show up right now). But first off lets start with “JESUVIAN PROCESS” up now at Elizabeth Dee on 20th.

So… it’s pretty hard to fuck up with this ensemble cast. Anyone who knows me knows that I would see anything with Mike Kelley. I would even go to the Googs. That aside, Kelley delivers, Ruby delivers, Bruce Conner is a champ, but with titles like “Generic Rat Hand Grenade” he could basically throw some shit in a stocking (which is exactly what was done)and still be champion. But the real surprise for me were the two paintings by Hilary Harnischfeger. The world of the abject is a boys bathroom with shit-stained walls covered in the hand prints of infantile man-childs. Within a show dedicated to this practice Harnischfegers’ paintings maintain a delicate but entrancing presence. I came in search of mighty monuments of feces, and I was given all that I demanded, but these little tablets kinda blew them all away.

Next on your way uptown there are two noteworthy shows at Leo Koenig. Aidas Bareikis- Fancy Meetings and Tony Matelli – The Old Me are both up now at Leos’ on 24th (when you say the gallery name like that it has to be with a thick Brooklyn accent so people think you are going out for pizza). I didn’t really care much for the large sculpture in the front by Bareikis, Parker liked it a lot but then again he wasn’t here for Jim Drain show this summer. I thought the drawings of his were amazing though. His drawings remind me of the first time I saw an Ensor drawing in that they posses that same spectral of-this-worldly quality that homeboy James is so good at. And yes I understand that the imagery alone makes the similarities pretty fucking obvious, but besides that they are good enough for me to crave some paintings from Bareikis (somebody let me know if these are out there).

But the real attraction is in the back where Tony Matelli has pulled off some brutal trompe l’oeil sculptures. Brutal in how pathetic and emasculated his subject is (maybe himself?), and trompe l’oeil? Well after attending the over crowded opening I recommended the show claiming the sculptures were in fact made of rotting vegetables only to be accosted by said friend later that night. They are not made of vegetables and the eternal flame head shots are not actual photographs but porcelain sculptures with fuel wedged between.

AA Bronsons “School for Young Shamans” is on 27th a little further west in that block of galleries that is most like its geographically brethren night clubs. All that aside this show actually features nine other young artists, including the current avant-gay poster boy Terrance Koh. In this show art production, curration, magic, sex, and obsessive collecting meld into one amazing ritual. Walking through the show is like stumbling upon the deserted campground of orgiastic pagan teenage boys on a summer afternoon in the woods while the embers are still glowing. It is that good. The one beef i have is actually with the Terrance Koh piece. For an artist so capable of magic (he turned Deitch into a villainous cloud kingdom) this effort was a little too grounded for me.

An around town roundup coming soon for all those better spaces downtown and in Brooklyn