Bywater
Art Reviews - Macabre art intentionally shocking
Bywater Marigny Current; Vol 2, Issue 5; Nov. 21
- Dec. 19, 2003
by Laura Tuley; Current Contributor
The
best things about l'art Noir's debut exhibit was the opening
reception . The alternative art space unveiled its macabre
art to the public for a Halloween happening on Saturday, October
25 in the heart of Bywater.The lithe curator Jeffrey Holmes,
garbed in a black dress, launched the affair - two hours late
- with a marriage proposal to co-curator, and now, fiancee
Andrea Garland, before a sizable crowd of neighborhood revelers.
Milling amongst locals was Bohemian celebrity Andrei Codrescu,
whose Presence marked the event as one at which to be see,
and be seen.As for the "macabre" art, part of a movement
sometimes called "Low Brow Art," it seems the scariest
spook on artists' minds is nothing more surprising than the
female sex. According to Holmes, several of the show's six
artists, all from Florida, have achieved national acclaim.
Most of the work features sadomasochistic themes, seemingly
to enhance the shock factor. For the most part, the show
is a cross between comic strip drawing and tattoo art. Perhaps
the most compelling and unusual work at this show is Zero Clockwork's "Ugly
Cat" series.The charcoal drawings feature a self-loathing
feline figure in various sad and depressed poses. These drawings
are, perhaps, a representation of the artist's - or any woman's
- alter ego cat, in this sense being a plausible symbol for
a woman.Some other highlights are Sas Christian's slick paintings
of doe-eyed girls reminiscent of Japanimation cartoon figures,
and Colin Christian's hanging sculptures of a female torso
and his black and white paintings of busty gals in black leather
and spikes.
Francesco
Lo Castro's "Alter Boy and Priest," are painted in
the position expected after recent publicity about the Catholic
Church.
The
show at the Waiting Room is more penetrating in its cultural
criticism than l'art Noir's mundanely erotic affront to bourgeois
values, showing in Bywater until November 20. The next
show opens on November 21 with Skot Olsen, and it will be on
view until February 7, 2004.
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