this image from kim dorland is representative of his show currently up at freight + volume. some of the paint advanced 6" from the support and was held in place by long screws. the smell is the first thing that hit me, and then the excellence of the works themselves. i felt like this was very convincing work about our relationship with natural spaces and the misconceptions of the word "natural." another great show was jacob hashimoto at mary boone. these works behave like relief paintings on the walls. each piece is made up of hundreds of small wood and paper constructions, which resemble paper cocktail umbrellas or small kites. the image created by the conglomeration of these "kites" is saturated with color and feels claustrophobic. some of the images appear vaguely representational so that some figure/ground relationship can be discerned. for example, in one work smoke appears to be emanating from a smokestack or, in the one above, kites congregate at the bottom of the space revealing a field of red sky above. these were deeply compelling works, which ultimately left me pondering the issues of space and over-population. more info from these artists can be found at the galleries' websites:
http://www.freightandvolume.com/
http://www.maryboonegallery.com/
