Jerk Face
Cartoon Villain
Bottleneck Gallery (UTB)
60 Broadway, Brooklyn
Great show of “Villains” in the trademark, Jerk Face style. This is his first solo show and the paintings look amazing. Most all are in a square format and really bring a consistent pop aesthetic to the work. First show, check it out.
Keiichi Tanaami
Sikkema Jenkins
Early Japanese pop artist with cool assemblage art from the early 1970’s. The work feels fresh and alive and handout. Check it out.
Jeff Koons
A Retrospective
Whitney Museum of American Art
Jeff Koons show has something for everyone, no matter what your taste is. And I think that is the point of this whole exhibition. Jeff Koons mines popular culture and feeds it back the icons and totems of their collective “tastes” and shares it in exquisite form, without passing judgement on whether or not these works should be considered as high-brow or low-brow. Tastey Show. Check it out.
Jeff Koons
A Retrospective—Banality Series
Whitney Museum of American Art
In one of the rooms, the Whitney as created this long, series of pedestals that you can walk along on both sides of the sculptures and see his Banality Series as a set. Very cool party of the retrospective. Jeff Koons is always playing with cultures’ sense of taste and these low brow fetishistic type objects have been raised to a high level. It is especially great to see the Michael Jackson and Bubbles the chimp sculpture. Jeff Koons has said that if he could have been anyone else in the world, he would have been Michael Jackson. This piece was created at the height of his popularity. Check it out.
Jerry Kearns
RRRGGHH!!!
Mike Weiss Gallery
These full scale—huge—paintings really capture the pop art sensibility, They mine the good vs. evil dialog inserting plenty of villains and shoot ‘em ups with graphic cartoon type layer on top. Very visually arresting and fun. Check it out.
Erik Den Breejen
There’s A Riot Goin’ On
Freight And Volume
Painter of text which include lyrics, poetry, jokes that create iconic figures of 1970’s popular culture. Painstakingly created, these epically scaled portraits draw you in with their words, but reveal a larger image from a far. Very cool. Check it out.
Andy Warhol
Piss Paintings
The new Skarstedt Gallery in Chelsea opened with a comparison show between Yves Klein and Andy Warhol entitled Fire Paintings (Klein) and Oxidation Paintings (Andy). I’ve heard about the Piss paintings before, but had never seen them hung in a gallery. They are very reminiscent of abstract expressionist work, and are quite stunning in their coloration. I particularly like the photo of Andy as you walk in the gallery of him sitting on the toilet. It works. Check it out.