Greg Parma Smith at Galerie Francesca Pia

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Faceting jewels of symbols in cultural stone, painting, to attribute the glyphs a more meaningful nonsense. This is what painting is, a burning of effort, an expenditure of culture, to ordain the halo on cherubic vessels, whatever vogue angel. The potato chip company values their crisp by turning the packaging auburn, the natural halo, this is moral. The painter asks for investment in his through something else, but it is also moral. The cultural search for taste, gems in the temple. 

Virginia Overton at Francesca Pia

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Cut up and rearrange the objects of capital, they will hint at their previous legibility but they will not mean, it is something we will be forced to assign. Playing in the sandbox we've been left.

Josef Strau at Francesca Pia

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These are much uglier, which is an improvement I suppose. And Straus's text begins with an almost apology for the exhibition, which reminds how endeared we all were to artists failing ten years ago. The "I prefer not to." or Manfred Pernice's ongoing struggle to get erect. or The performed hesitance in every painting made. Remember that time? But then Strau's text turns it around.  Attempts to incant and imbue some earnestness into the enterprise. Calls it Sutering, or the process of invoking something earnest, Vivian Suter, meaning, into the paintings. Remember the wacky wild inflatable arm men who danced in front of their paintings to imbue some some [criticality] into bland abstractions?  This is like that, hunched over its making and saying a prayer.

A hail mary pass to capture, touch down, on some meaning.


See too: Josef Strau at House of Gaga (2), Josef Strau at House of Gaga

“Lampen” at Francesca Pia

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Lampen, "a group exhibition exploring recent artistic production relating to light, design and its stabilizing elements." A definition signaling that there are still elements intrinsic to lamps that haven't been deconstructed in a way of, say, painting where one would, in order to successfully broaden the definition to inclusivity of practices under the banner of 'painting,' be forced to say things like "explore the cultural concept of painting" exclusive of any defining elements like paint, since painting need not. But all these seems at least illuminated, electrified, and as per their definition, stabilized, somewhat. No one placing a pound of vulcanized rubber on the floor and calling it "lamp." So being somewhat useful is important. That we trust in the usefulness of lamps as opposed to 'painting's total uselessness is maybe a reason why we see so much neon today, its modern day campfire is somehow comforting.


See too “Marlborough Lights” at Marlborough Broome Street, Sam Lewitt at Kunsthalle Basel, Cerith Wyn Evans at Museo Tamayo

“HARSH ASTRAL: The Radiants 2” at Francesca Pia

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A show about radioactivity because like the radiation itself its difficult to detect the energy that connects it, you need special tools to see it.

Hans-Peter Feldmann, Elad Lassry at Francesca Pia

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No one quite sure what made Pac-man desire the cherries, berries, pretzels, points yes, but also a sort of innate collectibility, even those not playing for points desire their plump glistening. Some objects have a value making them collectable, but other objects are manufactured to be collectible like cherries, Beanie Babies, Hummel figurines, model cars. Postage stamps have collectors and manufactured collectibility, those valued generally no one expected a need to collect. Both Lassry and Feldmann imprint themselves with the seductive collectible, because that's what they are.

Rochelle Feinstein at Francesca Pia

None of it quite makes sense, adds up, and that's the circumnambular point in a convolution of forms circleing to elide easy critical attacks. The fun is watching the boxer dance around the grab while you get punched in the head.

Jay Chung and Q Takeki Maeda at Francesca Pia

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It's becoming a problem that our daily consumption of media is predicated on exhibitions depicted in blankness, which as CAD becomes a more powerful form of reproduction and knowledge that, as Sanchez might be right in proclaiming, visibility replaces and trumps thought legitimization, we need be aware that this "visibility" isn't actually all that transparent, since most of this exhibition cannot be seen, this documentation barely exhibits, that the infinite visibility of inter-webbed artscenes has an acute case of glaucoma for those on the sidelines witnessing its transactions while precluding it from critique. And why should we be given that right anway? Is CAD mere Curriculum Vitae promotion. Issues of interest for Jay Chung and Q Takeki Maeda, artists for whom the excising of all but a few remnants generated a enormous look of power.

See too: Willem de Rooij at Le Consortium, Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda at 356 Mission, John Skoog at MUMOK, And so Quarterly has finally come to pass.

Tobias Madison at Francesca Pia

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Since at least 2010 Madison's derivations of other's - Genzken's florid plinths or Strau's illumination thrift - made acceptable by their visual suasion. Delivering what was desired by happily taking the mantels from the standard bearers to wrap itself made for an aberrant tension of when Madison would if ever finally take the step into characterless unoriginality seen here.

Isabelle Cornaro at Francesca Pia

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The Spoerri/Nevelson mashups are fine, but the simplicity of Cornaro’s videos make them feel tuned subliminal, a primeval filmic language that in the true stupidness functions sub-haptic, like submersibles, unable to be rationalized, a sort of commercial eroticness. A brilliant real dumbness, whereas everyone else was only feigning it.

See too : Isabelle Cornaro at Museum Leuven , Ida Ekblad at Herald St.