Sean Mellyn’s ‘Calvary,’ 2007, oil on canvas, 66 x 96.5 inches, courtesy Anna Kustera Gallery.
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By Rafael Risemberg
Friday, December 14, 2007
With one noted exception, all of the artists whose exhibits are described below are openly gay or lesbian.
Sean Mellyn
At first glance, Sean Mellyn’s paintings of mostly children seem fairly lighthearted, but on closer inspection they pack a macabre punch. Most unsettling is “Calvary,” a tableau of kids in cowboy clothes gleefully pulling a captive snowman in a wagon, a gun aimed at its temple. Two separate images of boys wearing paper bags over their heads, illuminated by real-life dangling light bulbs, suggest an Abu Ghraib-like interrogation. In Mellyn’s only sculpture on display, an overweight snowman seems to be attempting suicide by jumping from a tower of boxes. Creepy. “Friday,” 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Tues.–Sat., until Dec. 22, Anna Kustera Gallery: 520 W. 21st St, annakustera.com, 212-989-0082.
Mala Iqbal
This female artist of Pakistani descent gives a uniquely psychedelic take on landscape painting. Mala Iqbal’s colors are fluorescent, and some of her structures take on the shape of not quite legible graffiti. Cartoon-like figures populate the scenery: a Buddha-shaped volcano here, a furry two-legged monster there, and walled-in airbrushed plants, among others. Crumbling ruins juxtapose against burgeoning, iridescent vegetation to fantastical effect. No need to bring hallucinogens to heighten the experience—the drugs seem to be built in. “Washed Away,” 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Tues–Sat., until Jan. 5, PPOW Gallery: 555 W. 25th St, ppowgallery.com, 212-647-1044.
Early Andy Warhol
Warm and playful are words one would never use to describe Andy Warhol’s artwork, but that’s exactly how these drawings from the 1950s come off. Created while he was a graphic designer and illustrator, before he had ever shown in a gallery, much less become the great icon of late 20th century art, most of these pieces were found in his personal effects at the time of his death and are only now being shown. Especially whimsical are images of cats (he owned 25 of them, all named Sam), butterflies and women’s shoes. Simple and sensuous are line drawings of several anonymous men. It’s a glimpse into the mind of a budding genius. “Prints and Drawings,” 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Tues.–Sat., until Jan. 12, Susan Sheehan Gallery: 535 W. 22nd St., susansheehangallery.com, 212-489-3331.
Lina Bertucci
While artist Lina Bertucci is straight, she says that some of her photographed subjects—hardcore tattoo-clad women she met at tattoo conventions—are lesbian. And it shows. “Jean” has tattoos over nearly her entire burly body and, whatever her sexual orientation, is the embodiment of a radiant toughness. Others, such as “Jennifer Lee,” with florid decorations on her hips and back, are more feminine. This show inadvertently brings up interesting parallels between the queer and tattoo communities: using one’s body as the conduit for socially marginalized self-expression and fulfillment. “Women in the Tattoo Subculture,” 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Tues.–Sat., until Jan. 5, Perry Rubenstein Gallery: 534 W. 24th St., perryrubenstein.com, 212-627-8000.
John Button
This modest retrospective (the artist died in 1982 at the age of 53) showcases the work John Button was most known for: paintings of architectural structures viewed from unusual perspectives. They seem a bit cerebral, even as they evoke Edward Hopper. More personal and accessible are graphite-on-paper drawings of nude male students from Button’s tenure at School of Visual Arts. Most of these latter works have rarely if ever exhibited before—a shame, since they round out the artist’s talents so nicely. “Paintings and Drawings From the Estate,” 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Tues.–Sat., until Jan. 5, ClampArt Gallery: 521-531 W. 25th St., clampart.com, 646-230-8008.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Yes, it’s THAT Fassbinder—film director and provocateur—exhibiting in a museum, of all places. P.S. 1’s main exhibition space in Queens has been taken over by 14 screening rooms to view the entirety of Fassbinder’s 15-hour epic “Berlin Alexanderplatz,” based on Alfred Döblin’s 1929 novel and originally shown as a German television series. Also on display are the film’s storyboard and 224 film stills. The convoluted story, if you have the patience (I didn’t) to sit through it all, involves crime, prostitution, violence and a special “friendship” between two men. “Berlin Alexanderplatz,” noon–6 p.m., Thur.–Mon., until Jan. 7, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center: 22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave., Long Island City, ps1.org, 718-784-2084.
Lovett/Codagnone
Also showing at P.S. 1, gay duo John Lovett and Alessandro Codagnone explore issues around the futility of political resistance in their first U.S. museum exhibit. Their purported centerpiece—a video of a man shouting lines from Artaud to an audience of none, in a dark, deserted cityscape—screens on a TV set that is a bit undersized and spatially isolated for a message of such import. Or maybe that’s the whole point. The rest of the show—an installation of all-black police barricades, bullhorns, asphalt pavement and the like—is equally bleak and chilling. “Interruption of a Course of Action,” noon–6 p.m., Thur.–Mon., until Jan. 7, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center: 22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave., Long Island City, ps1.org, 718-784-2084.
Norbert Bisky
Even as the hunky young men in German artist Norbert Bisky’s paintings are overwhelmed by floods, tornados and other apocalyptic upheavals, they manage to engage in passionate homo-sex encounters. Whether decapitated, impaled by telephone poles, or simply on the verge of drowning, these boys milk every last drop out of life, which often shows on their semen-stained faces. This enthralling exhibit is an apt, if outrageous, metaphor for our arguably misdirected responses to the world’s state of constant turmoil—political, medical and environmental. “What’s Wrong With Me,” 10a.m.–6 p.m., Tues.–Sat., until Dec. 22, Leo Koenig Gallery: 545 W. 23rd St., leokoenig.com, 212-334-9255.
Ross Bleckner
On the surface pretty and decorative, Bleckner’s oil-on-linen paintings are in fact concerned with mortality—not so surprising, as he is a prominent AIDS activist. Bleckner’s current exhibit of entanglements of mostly red leaves and vines conveys a sense of both inner blossoming and social interdependence. Even so, the gray/black metaphysic haze that envelops them reminds one of the ever-present specter of death. In the only one of his six works where flowers actually bloom, they are a riot of life-giving, if ephemeral, color. “Postcards From the Edge,” 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Tues.–Sat., until Dec. 22, Mary Boone Gallery: 541 W. 24th St, maryboonegallery.com, 212-752-2929.
‘Stage-Struck’
In a refreshing change of course from its usual genitalia-saturated exhibits, Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation has mounted a group show of theater set and costume designs by dozens of queer artists. The highlight has to be curator Peter Harvey’s three set models that include the groundbreaking pre-Stonewall play “Boys in the Band.” Also of note are John Lee Beatty’s set illustrations for “Lips Together, Teeth Apart” and “Talley’s Folly,” and Anna Louizos’ set models for the current productions of “Avenue Q” and “Curtains.” One surprise is Paul Cadmus’ watercolor costume design for a 1937 Lincoln Kirstein ballet. “Stage-Struck: the Magic of Theatre Design,” noon–6 p.m., Tues.–Sat., until Dec. 22, at Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation: 26 Wooster St. near Grand St., leslielohman.org, 212-431-2609.
Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D., leads gay & lesbian art gallery tours through New York Gallery Tours: nygallerytours.com, 212-946-1548. The next GLBT gallery tours start 1:00 pm on Sat., Dec. 15 and Sat., Jan. 19, at 526 W. 26th St.
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