A R T   L E T T E R

The Timely Magazine of Art

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Rubber at Lawndale	1/13

The work in this show is awful. Garish, glassy eyed figures painted very
badly interact with chicken entrails and other ghoulies in an indecipherable
mish mash of allegories. There is no excuse: not self-expression, not
self-perceived outsider status, not misconstrued anger, to justify the
self-indulgence of these paintings and sculptures.-Delfina



Objects Beside the Economy at Art of This Century	1/?

Four objects made by non-artists: a clear pill capsule filled with silver
glitter, two Barbie dolls crudely cast in bronze, an old jar containing an
exquisitely dressed doll family, and a huge trophy made out of trophy parts.
In this unimproved, cheap office space these items, which might otherwise
just seem odd, take their rightful place as part of the creaking, foolish
story of this culture (headed for the 21st century.)-Delfina



Lawrence Carroll  at Lawing Gallery	2/10 

Grody wall boxes (which Carroll calls paintings) refer to geometry without
being limited to it. Mute and evocative, his romantic surfaces push
perilously close to melodrama. Curious low-intensity constructions, layers
of canvas, paint and wood.  Very like the late Twombly, but without the
corny Italian words. This show will seem too obtuse for some tastes and
too saccharine for others, but it strikes a delicate balance.-B.D.



Derek Boshier at the CAM	1/28

Hordes of gloppy, bombastic neoexpressionist canvasses from the 80's. At
best they are humorous. Boshier's vague political messages serve as an
excuse for the expenditure of hundreds of dollars of paint, while his
colorful, cake-frosting surfaces disguise their conceptual poverty.-B.D.



Jesus Moroles at Barbara Davis	1/6

Boring granite potato chips and sausages. A collection of cloying office
lobby sculptures, carefully crafted with an inventory of industrial
techniques to avoid arousing the slightest intellectual stir. It's works like
these which give formalism a bad name.- B.D.



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