print December 1988

Noel Vietor, Mike Berg

Noel Vietor's projections on textured canvases recall planetarium projections—one is overwhelmed by the sheer magnificence of nature's scope, and so relies on the translation of planetary images to a more accessible scale in order to make nature a kind of theater. But Vietor's suite of moderately scaled projection pieces are not as entrancing as planetarium projections; they tease the viewer with an unrealized promise of spectacular effects. The darkened gallery setup connotes a theater or fun house, wherein darkness acts as a framework for isolated dramatic moments. But the relatively small

print November 1988

Don Worth

Don Worth’s photographs unveil secrets of the natural world while ordering visual information in a highly cultivated manner. This show features a wide range of the artist’s color and black-and-white work from the past three decades. Worth seems to go for broke in his color photographs, overwhelming the viewer with intense colors and myriad details. By contrast, his black-and-white works are testimonies to the spiritual serenity evoked by open expanses of nature. Worth manages to achieve two radically different but equally intense pictorial effects.

The composition of the photographs—in particular,

print November 1988

Dorothea Tanning

Dorothea Tanning’s paintings present visual impressions, sensations, and visions that defy strict categorization. Her evocative, mysterious images hearken back to a primordial consciousness that is sometimes translated into recognizable pictorial idioms. This show features some of Tanning’s best work from the years 1961 to 1987, work that is consistently daring and haunting. Her latest pieces are as fresh and lucid as ever, executed with fluid linework and intuitive coloration.

One essential reason for Tanning’s constancy is her belief in the supremacy of imagination over logic. By exploring her

print October 1988

Ericka Beckman

Through a series of color photographs and corresponding light- and sound-cues, Ericka Beckman transformed a room in this gallery into an uncommon environment that demonstrated the connection between technological processes and human learning. Each of the five large C-prints features one of the “Nanotech” players, hybrid creations of light and motion (captured by prolonged camera exposures), which resemble proposed robot designs from the ’50s. Beckman, a filmmaker, is acutely aware of photographic possibilities, and she explores them with imagination and wit. Beckman stresses the significance of

print October 1988

Kevin Larmon

Kevin Larmon’s recent paintings demonstrate a more pronounced luminosity than did his earlier works. Larmon has removed the dark blanket of black tones that once served as a backdrop for his hovering, iconic fruit bowls. He has held on to the fruit bowls themselves, and uses them as strange signifiers of typical still lifes, complete with connotations of painting’s history. The highly stylized arrangement of a saucer dish balancing what looks like a pear and an apple has become a signature element of Larmon’s art. This fruit bowl floats almost arbitrarily on densely layered grounds covered with

print September 1988

Andy Warhol

The current glut of media attention for Andy Warhol and his work would probably turn off most viewers if it were directed toward any other artist. But Warhol’s art can be viewed in small doses or in large quantities and still prove inexhaustibly interesting. The simultaneity of these shows—drawings at the Robert Miller Gallery, work in various media at the Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, paintings at Gagosian Gallery, as well as film screenings at the Whitney Museum—forms a wide-ranging survey demonstrating Warhol’s versatility.

The most illuminating exhibition is the collection of paintings, drawings,

print Summer 1988

Susan Hiller

If Susan Hiller’s recent exhibition here is any indication, there is currently a strong potential for a nostalgic revival of late ’60s and ’70s Conceptual art. The show included a portion of “Dedicated to the Unknown Artists,” an ongoing series that she began in 1972 consisting of framed arrangements of old postcards and statistics that she has compiled and cross-referenced (the section on view here was from 1972–76). This work maintains its potent communicative powers and makes the current spate of derivative abstraction seem wan in comparison. Hiller’s anthropological approach to gathering

print May 1988

Steve Keister

A stalemate of contradictory forms is the primary achievement of Steve Keister’s uncommon new sculptures. Within the context of the gallery space these pieces resemble the last of an endangered species, preserved in a formal presentation. Indeed, animal forms are the rough precursors of Keister’s more modified, regimented visions. Keister always combines two specific sculptural elements: spandex armatures stiffened with resin, Bondo, and fiberglass, and the metal frameworks of Bertoia, Eames, or butterfly chairs. Each individual piece represents an isolated moment of structural conflict that

print April 1988

Rocky Schenk

The depiction of the female nude as a depersonalized object for viewing has been considered problematic for several decades, but only in recent times have such portrayals provoked more insistent negative criticism. Rocky Schenk’s slick, sophisticated images of the female figure dominated his recent exhibition of photographs here (all untitled, all but two from 1987).

Taken on a superficial level, these images could automatically elicit a negative response if not for an ambiguity of intention. Schenk’s work appears to be neither explicitly sexist nor cleverly subversive. At the same time that the

Jude Schwendenwien