This past Tuesday, I ventured to NYU’s 80WSE gallery for Marlene McCarty: I’m Into You Now.
This past year, the gallery has undergone some major changes and resulting exhibits are proof of the hard work and dedication of the still recently appointed staff. Curated by Michael Cohen, the show documents Marlene’s work from the 1980’s to present. I remember first seeing her large scale pen drawings at Sikkema Jenkins in Chelsea and loved not only the figurative presence, but the biomorphic quality that the figures take on.


Once again, her subjects frolic, get into questionable situations, and wear sometimes transparent clothing. I enjoyed the usage of match books on the floor in organized piles or in the case below, a hollow cylinder. I wasn’t sure if the viewers were invited to take some, and refrained but watched as a girl next to me bent and slid a few into her coat pocket.


The work was difficult to photograph and even with attempted color correction still has a yellow or blue fluorescent haze. If you get a chance to see the show, make sure to ask about the two drawings in the back room. They’ve never been shown before and omitted from the exhibit, but with tinted pink hair and identical faces, they were my favorite of the show!


Is it just me or is that George W. Bush hanging out with some neo-hippies? Seeing the exhibit and learning that Marlene now teaches at Cooper Union, I thought of artist Hope Gangloff, who is also a Cooper grad.


Later on at the after-party in Marlene’s East Village apartment, photographer/art star Ryan McGinley made an appearance and we chatted, drank white wine and admired the Warhol’s hanging in the space.

Marlene McCarty: I’m Into You Now is on view until December 18th @80WSE

More soon
xo
— Posted from my iPhone
Http://www.katyhamer.com