A R T   L E T T E R

The Timely Magazine of Art

Christian Garnett at Lawing Gallery	7/15

Shells, prawns, paramecium angels, sponges, florals and lobster claws
deftly squeegeed out of primordial paint ooze. Speedy, fresh, matter of
fact, polyreferential, except for the murky Temporanium. A refreshing spot
of competence on this Saturday's gallery rounds. -B.D.



Waldo Bien at Diverseworks                                                             7/11

I don't hold the lyrical all-encompassing ideas about humanity that are in
the artist's statement, but here they're presented as true: there is absolute
conviction and earnestness in this work. The simple, beautiful  Between the
Ears and Ferry Boat crystallize the poetic perfection of their scuffed
materials. The scribbled drawings of Untitled-Titled  have strong
character; some of those on the gateway (#7) are overbuilt, excessively
burdened by meaning. At times, as in the murky, hard-to-decipher, whitish
plexiglas and plastic sheeting, or in the mud wall, whose significance fails
without the explanation, there seems to be greater intensity in the
intention than in what actually comes across in the finished piece.-Delfina



Kim O'Grady at Lanning Gallery	7/1

"Invisible Paintings. . ." I sure wish they were. O'Grady seems content to
scratch away at her paintings' surfaces as if they were scabs or abscesses.
These paintings are far too pretty to be either. They are neither bloody nor
pus-ridden enough. O'Grady's phaneromania would be better suited to nose
picking than painting. The only redeeming thing in this entire show is the
Welshman smoking a pipe in the Tinman's (Wizard of Oz) tin hat of Untitled
#3. O'Grady is yet another in a long line of tortured-soul Ab-Ex artists (i.e.
Monsieur Giles Lyon et al.) Rah rah. . . -Patrick Phipps



Beth Lipton Weinberger at Weekend Gallery                          6/28

A sincere, sensitive effort at cliche, landscapey Ab-Ex by one who doesn't
know enough. This work lacks clarity of purpose and real urgency.-Delfina



De Bock, Moore and Frazier at West End Gallery	7/8

Marci De Bock's doll-altars to abused children are a junky hodgepodge of
arty effects. Bill Frazier's works are bad bad bad bad bad. Art-historical
references, feminist messages and retarded visual jokes are mixed at
random and  ruin the purity of the bad experience, which otherwise could
have been appreciated for its own sake, a la Jeff Koons. -B.D.



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