Amy Bennett’s meticulously rendered oil on panel paintings catalogue disfunction in the suburbs, from a distant couple in ‘Anniversary’ sitting on two different sides of a wrap-around porch to the deeply sad images of kids in ‘Drills’ who practice hiding in school. Privy to moments that are both tense and personal for each painting’s isolated characters, our remove from them (sometimes aided by a bird’s eye perspective) adds alienation and intrigue. Here, ‘Floating Lessons’ parallels and seem to prefigure another of the show’s best and most alarming images in which a body (alive?) floats in an above-ground pool. Bennett’s disturbing but fascinating vision stops viewers from conflating comfortable surroundings with happiness or family life with security. (On view through August 16th at Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea.)
