Linsanity goes on hiatus in Andrew Kuo’s tiny painting of Houston Rockets star Jeremy Lin as he is chastised by an angry basketball. Floating in a tank a la Jeff Koon’s basketballs in his 1985 ‘Equilibrium’ series, the ball becomes the object of our attention, forcing a downcast Lin into the backseat. The vicissitudes of stardom never looked so cute. (‘Tallboy’ is in the group exhibition ‘In Plain Sight’ at Chelsea’s Mitchell-Innes & Nash through August 17th).
Walter Robinson’s ‘Dallas BBQ’ arouses a different kind of desire than his erotically charged paintings (resembling romance novel covers from the 60s) at Chelsea’s Haunch of Venison. ‘Here’s the beef’ this small but powerful canvas shouts as it evokes the danger of a cholesterol bomb and the pleasures of one of America’s favorite indulgences. (Through August 17th).
Over years of avid art viewing, particular museum security guards have become as familiar to me as the art they guard though we’ve never exchanged words. ‘Artists Guarding Artists’ a group show at Family Business breaks the silence with work by artists who work as guards at the city’s major museums, from the Met to the New Museum. Next time I go to the Guggenheim, I’ll be looking for Sandro Rodorigo to congratulate him on his tongue-in-cheek, self-aggrandizing ‘Sandro at Work: The Great Self-Portrait.’ Though it’s a small painting, it perfectly pillories art world hierarchies of importance that don’t favor guards. (Through August 17th).