No, this isn’t a post about Dale Peck. It’s about a review in the NY Observer by Mario Naves of our friend Susan Wanklyn‘s show at Cheryl Pelavin. I think it’s hilarious — the heart sinks! And it’s never bad to have your review next to one about Robert Ryman.

Notwithstanding its virtues, Ms. Wanklyn’s art points to a problem common to artists who have come of age since the rise of Conceptualism: a disconnect between form and content. You remember that old saw—well, it’s been so thoroughly trounced upon by deconstructionists, postmodernists and nihilists of one stripe or another that it’s time to take the saw out of the closet, run a damp cloth over it and look at it anew. The legacy of Conceptual art is not a culture bereft of artistic talent, but a culture that is merely talent.

The scene is full of painters and sculptors with impressive technical skill who have, in essence, nowhere to go with it. So they paint about something, burdening the work with Meaning. The ambition to imbue color or space or shape with meaning—to grace form with a full-bodied and independent life—is alien to a generation conditioned to believe that art is an adjunct to something else. Ms. Wanklyn has done some fine paintings in the past; she’s likely to right herself in the future. But when her snarled doodles reveal themselves as stick figures of riders on horses, the eye cringes and the heart sinks.

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Susan Wanklyn Action Figure #7 (2004) 9 x 11.5 inches, Casein on Paper

Empty Studio, 70 Washington Street, DUMBO

The area under the Manhattan Bridge overpass is being condominium-ized, and art spaces are on the move. Smack Mellon will soon leave its fragrant gallery in an old spice factory for other quarters. The many studios in 70 Washington Street are emptying out. During this transition, an arts group called TAG Projects, run by Derick Melander, Tim Kent and John Silvis, is using one vacated space for a very short-run exhibition, with Peter Corrie as curator.

— From Holland Cotter’s review of ‘Death to the Fascist Insect That Preys on the Life of the People’

The show, which we saw today (its last day) was great. Watch TAG Projects for future cool things. I think James will be writing up something soon.

Oops. I forgot my blog disappears if I don’t post for a week. Busy, plus technical difficulties at home – A/C, wiring, two computers failing, cell phone problems…

Last chance stuff for today (a couple end tomorrow), by neighborhood:

DUMBO

Death to the fascist insect that preys on the life of the people
Gallery 800 • 70 Washington Street, Suite 800
(That’s a quote from the Symbionese Liberation Army, in case you’re fuzzy on fringe political movements.)

Sunrise Sunset – group show curated by Amanda Church and Courtney J. Martin
Smack Mellon
Closes Sunday

Tribeca

OK, America!
APEX Art

Susan Wanklyn
Cheryl Pelavin
This closes today. Ignore the gallery web page which says it ran April-May. Bad cut and past job I assume. See here for more on Susan.

East Village

Rowdy Remix
ATM Gallery
Group show that includes Jules de Balincourt, Brian Belott, and Tom Sanford. Closes tomorrow.

Chelsea

Carrie Yamaoka
Debs & Co.
Her best show ever, and the last day of existence for this gallery. We saw the show already, so I don’t know if we’ll make it by there for the last day. Tell Choire and Nick we said hello.

After meeting a friend at Savoy, we went by this show at Peter Blum in Soho. It was odd to walk into such a quiet, beautiful exhibition from an 85-degree day on Wooster Street. It’s up through September 25.

We saw some good stuff last Saturday. Unfortunately, it was the last day for some of it. I’m a bad art journalist!

In no particular order:

Tony Feher, Untitled
2004
nine mylar bags and push pins

Tony Feher at D’Amelio Terras: Lovely show, up through July 2nd. He is doing some new things with hanging works beyond what I have seen before. The potato chip bags above had holes made by a hole puncher in them. It was fun to see everyone light up with a smile as they walked into the gallery. James took some photographs of the show that will probably show up on his site.

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Lars Fisk, End Table
2004
Cast rubber, steel, bamboo, ed. of 3

Lars Fisk at Taxter & Spengemann: this is one of the less-known galleries in Chelsea that should be on everyone’s list. We first met Pascal Spengemann a few years ago at Scope Art Fair, representing his gallery in Vermont! Lars Fisk plays with fake chinoiserie and other aspects of fetishized “foreignness.” The show has closed.

The next show at the gallery looks great. The image below doesn’t convey the glow and color of this painting, which we saw in the gallery:

Anna Schachte, Freedom Festival Plaza Parkinglot
2003
Oil on canvas, 70″ x 70″

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You don’t need me to tell you that the Amy Cutler show, now closed, at Leslie Tonkonow, was brilliant. Plenty of people have mentioned it as a great show. I think she has hit a new artistic level in her work.

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Tal R, Palace imorgen
2004
oil , paper collage on canvas 78 3/4 x 78 3/4

Tal R at LFL Gallery, up through June 19th. The artist is Danish/Israeli (!), but in a way the work looks like it could be an African artist. Great use of color, and smart use of collage in a way that looks like painting.

Updated:

I forgot to mention we also saw Eric Doeringer selling his bootlegs on 24th Street. We bought a “Jack Pierson” letter piece that said “STAY”. His Christian Holstad, Laura Owens, and David Reed pieces looked tempting as well.

This looks like one of the best summer shows I’ve heard about, at The Drawing Center:

Playpen: Selections Summer 2004
June 17 – July 24, 2004
Opening Reception: Wednesday, June 16, 6:00–8:00 pm
“Playpen” is a process-based exhibition that encourages experimentation with the boundaries of space, drawing, and the role of the institution. Each of the artists represented has created a project specifically for the exhibition. Often depending on direct interaction with the audience for their ultimate meaning, the works in “Playpen” cross the restricted line between the sanctity of objects and the temporality of performative events.

The artists featured in “Playpen” are: David Brody (Brooklyn, NY), Voebe de Gruyter (Brussels, Belgium), Charles Goldman (Brooklyn, NY), Alina Viola Grumiller (New York, NY), Valerie Hegarty (Brooklyn, NY), Geoff Lupo (Brooklyn, NY), Edward Monovich (Summit, NJ), neuroTransmitter (New York, NY), Red76 (Portland, OR and Chicago, IL), Gedi Sibony (Brooklyn, NY), Austin Thomas (Brooklyn, NY), and Alex Villar (New York City).

I did Charles Goldman’s web site, and I’m a huge fan. We heard about the show when we were visitng Valerie Hegarty‘s studio at Smack Mellon a couple of nights ago.

Speaking of summer shows, “Sommer Show” at Lehmann Maupin is really incredible. If I could afford it, I would have bought one of Eliezer Sonnenschein’s fantastic paintings — see Sommer Contempory Art‘s site for images.

I’m going to start publishing our list of recommended art openings on the web, via iCal and my .Mac account.

Go here to see it. Those blessed few with a Mac and OS X can subcribe to it if you wish.

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Update: Go to ArtCal for the new web-based version.

Things to attend:

Lehmann Maupin‘s summer show, titled “Sommer Show”, features work from Sommer Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv. (Get it?) We met Irit Mayer-Sommer a couple of years ago at the Armory Show, and she shows some very interesting work (including a Bedouin photographer named Ahlam Shibil). We have several Gil Shani works, both photography and drawing, we bought from her.

After that we’ll head to DUMBO, for Smack Mellon‘s Open Studios from 6-9. There is also a group show curated by Amanda Church and Courtney J. Martin up now.

Triangle Studios has an open studio reception and benefit silent auction from 6-10 tonight. There are some good names in the silent auction, including Andy Yoder and David Humphrey.