Critic's Pic



Open Container at et al projects


Anthony Palocci Jr. at et al projects


You might want to hold onto last nights "take out" boxes … they may hold the inspiration for your next great artwork. So one might think after viewing "Open Container", a solo show of exceptional paintings and works on paper by Boston artist Anthony Palocci Jr. at et al projects (56 Bogart Street). A first glance at the selection of paintings in muted tones of grayish greens reveals subject matter including computer keypads, cardboard coffee cup trays, and empty food containers. These paintings are less about issues of consumption and commerce, but rather meditations on color, light and form.
Vibrant undercoats of orange and yellow inform and solidify the painting surface, while linear elements trace the rise and fall of shape within space, indicating both volume and light. In "Boneless Spare Ribs" 2014, a ruddy container is delineated in spare ways; one brightened edge here, a set of angled lines there. The paint handling is confident and current, loose and signature-like but paired with all the components of classic pictorial structure; perspective, line, overlap, shadow. A peek into the back room at et al reveals works on paper wherein Palocci Jr's strategy is reduced to its essence; charcoal lines suggesting form through angle alone. These works are far from simplistic. They are a knockout. The current art conversation is full of slap-dash and hollow gesture and Palocci Jr's monumental contribution reminds us, in an even-handed way, not to be so quick to throw out the classic concerns of paint. The readily discarded may yet have much to offer. (through April 6th).


Palimpsest at Underdonk



Inna Babaeva at Underdonk


Texture. Color. Form. These are a few of the first connections one draws between the works currently on view in Palimpsest, a two-person group show at Underdonk (17-17 Troutman Street #201) showcasing the work of Inna Babaeva and Lauren Clay.
While a small gallery, what Underdonk lacks in physical space it more than makes up for in considered programing and careful installation. For Palimpsest, two white, rug-like wall sculptures from Lauren Clay are paired with a sculpture of neon green foam emanating from a tin pail and an installation of Lucite panels bearing the repeated image of this foamy paint spill. The repetition of imagery and texture in this show activates the implications of the title (a palimpsest is a writing surface that has been effaced to make room for new text, but on which traces of the erased text yet remain), but so to does the subject matter, i.e. the possible references within Clay's forms to the Black Paintings of Frank Stella, only here offered in corpulent papier-mache and cotton ball white pulp. The interplay between the bloated yet ordered forms of Clay and the regurgitant excess spilling from Babaeva's works make for engaging viewing and the rounded fields of white in Clay's work make nice counterpoint to the acrid, neon green within Babaeva's. This is a charming show and like the title might imply, you won't get a full view of each artists interests but rather, see traces of each within the other. (through April 28th)


-Enrico Gomez




THURSDAY APRIL 3
Dumbo/Downtown
AIR Gallery, 6-9
Smack Mellon, 7:30
United Photo Industries, 6-9
Sculptors Guild Gallery, 5-8
Kunsthalle Galapagos, 8pm
Giacobetti Paul Gallery, 6-9
Gallery Gaia, 6-8pm


FRIDAY APRIL 4
Bushwick
Signal Gallery, 7-10pm 
Grace Exibition Space, 9:00 Doors 9:30 Performance 
Friday Studio Gallery, 6-8
Theodore: Art, 6-9
Outlet, Fine Art, 7-10
Schema Projects, 5pm
Fuchs Projects, 6-9
Amos Eno Gallery, 6-9
TSA, 7 – 10
Dumbo/Downtown
Minus Space, 6-9
Greenpoint
Calico Brooklyn, 7-9
Williamsburg
Picture Farm, 6-9
Front Room Gallery, 7-9
Park Slope/Gowanus
Showroom Gowanus, 7-10
440 Gallery, 6-9
Red Hook
Rhombus Space, 6-9


SATURDAY APRIL 5
Bushwick
Underdonk , 7-10
Parallel Art Space, 6-9
Secret Project Robot, 7-12
Microscope, 6-9pm 
Regina Rex, 6-9
Harbor , 7-10
Williamsburg
Cotton Candy Machine, 7-11
Park Slope/Gowanus
Brooklyn Museum, 5-11
BKBX, 6-8
Red Hook
Pioneer Works, 8pm
Boerum Hill
490 Atlantic Gallery, 6-9
Bedford-Stuyvesant
Good Work Gallery
Greenpoint
Janet Kurnatowski, 5:30pm


MONDAY APRIL 7
Fort Greene/Clinton Hill
Pratt Institute Galleries, 5-8


TUESDAY APRIL 8
Greenpoint
Light Industry
Sunset Park
NARS Foundation, 6-8
Fort Greene/Clinton Hill
Ouchi Gallery, 7-10


WEDNESDAY APRIL 9
Sunset Park
Kingsborough Community College Art Gallery, 2-7


FRIDAY APRIL 11
Bushwick
The Parlour, 6-9 pm 
The Active Space, 7-10
Studio 10, 7-9
Life on Mars, 6-9
Park Slope/Gowanus
Trestle Gallery, 7-9
Williamsburg
--WILLIAMSBURG EVERY SECOND, FRIDAY--, 7-9


SATURDAY APRIL 12
Red Hook
Kentler International Drawing Space
Park Slope/Gowanus
Fivemyles, 6-9
Bushwick
Lorimoto, 6-9
Williamsburg
17 frost, 7pm – 11pm
Dumbo/Downtown
AIR Gallery, 4pm


SUNDAY APRIL 13
Bushwick
Grace Exibition Space, 7- 10


TUESDAY APRIL 15
Fort Greene/Clinton Hill
BRIC House, 7pm 
Greenpoint
Light Industry


FRIDAY APRIL 18
Bushwick
Storefront Ten Eyck , 6-9


SATURDAY APRIL 19
Park Slope/Gowanus
Ethan Pettit Gallery, 6-9pm
Boerum Hill
The Invisible Dog, 8pm 
The Invisible Dog
Bushwick
Transfer , 7-11
Ortega Y Gasset Projects, 6 - 9
Sunset Park
NARS Foundation, 6-8
Bedford-Stuyvesant
helper, 7 - 10


MONDAY APRIL 21
Fort Greene/Clinton Hill
Pratt Institute Galleries, 5-8


TUESDAY APRIL 22
Fort Greene/Clinton Hill
BRIC House, 7-9pm


WEDNESDAY APRIL 23
Park Slope/Gowanus
Open Source, 7-9


THURSDAY APRIL 24
Williamsburg
Gitana Rosa
Simon/Neuman² Gallery


FRIDAY APRIL 25
Williamsburg
Art 101, 6-9
Bushwick
ISCP, 6:30
Valentine, 6-9 
Robert Henry Contemporary, 6-9


SATURDAY APRIL 26
Red Hook
BWAC


MONDAY APRIL 28
Bushwick
Fresh Window, 7-9