What's up on 24th

(Kim Dorland, RIP Tom Thomson, 2009, courtesy Freight + Volume)

A run across 24th Street yesterday yielded the following miscellaneous thoughts:

The large paintings by Albert Oehlen at Luhring Augustine are stereotypes of art itself, what I imagine the popular image of art to be: a little bit of collage, a splash of paint, and the very important "wha?" Wouldn't the work be perfect for Lily van der Woodsen's home on Gossip Girl.

Across the way at Freight and Volume are intriguing landscapes by Kim Dorland in which urban life encroaches on our pristine conception of nature. In general, give me trees or graffiti (above, both!) and I'm happy. But, with these, am I happy because of what it reminds me of, or because of what's actually in front of me?

It was nice to see the Christopher Wool in the window at Stellan Holm, and also the below painting in the back entitled Unworkable Machine. Upon learning that it was made by William S. Burroughs, I began to wonder if paintings can have a literary esthetic. If so, am I attracted to the wordiness of it?





















(William S. Burroughs, Unworkable Machine, 1993, courtesy Stellan Holm Gallery)