“All Art +: Good Medicine” Exhibition

“All Art +: Good Medicine” Exhibition

Van Der Plas Gallery

This event has ended.

In the middle of an already-unconventional September, Van der Plas Gallery takes the temperature of New York’s art scene and finds it hotter than usual. All Art +, an open-call show that features some of the most energetic and quirky art of this city, now has a loyal following, and along with
it, a mission. If there’s a cure for feverish climate and politics, it’s here: the work of more than thirty artists, made from any material, from neon to roofing shingles, and everything in between. Sarah Zaher’s neon pill installations top the list of all-out, eyegrabbing color work in this show, but other entries aren’t far behind. Toma Vagner’s deadpan surrealism recalls early Warhol, while Sarah Fox’s painting of a machine in flight seems to splinter into pieces before your eyes. Not to be missed are Susan Lizotte’s tryptich, “Fighting Back,” depicting a little monster pitching bricks at an unseen assailant, and a taco painting by Joe Bloch, founder of Creative Bloch in Brooklyn. Placing quieter work in this setting seems a gamble, but it pays off well. Elizabeth Riley’s folded paper sculptures might be more at home in a planetarium or a library, but they strike a difficult balance
between the show’s amped-up attitude and its solitary moments. So do Virginia Kraljevic’s delicate pen and ink drawings, and the modest and charmingly awkward drawings by itinerant Japanese-born singer-songwriter Hugh Yamada. Also in the department of counterintuitive successes, Robert Sanmartino achieves surprising delicacy with tar and sawdust on asbestos shingles. Fred Gutzeit’s works are always challenging: it’s sometimes hard to tell whether they’re diagrams of lightwaves or simply the roaming line of his curiosity.

Finally, Maya Mason’s painting leaves no room for doubt. A brash figure painter, Mason specializes in naked women running directly toward the viewer. It’s an energizing move, like being charged by a mob of friendly Amazons. We feel better already after this infusion of nudes, spiderwebs, roofing material, spacecraft, scissors, pills, tacos, and monsters. We’re betting you will too.
By​ ​Sally​ ​Eckoff

Media

• Painting

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