SOME GIRLS @LAUNCH F18

Some Girls, curated by Noah Becker recently opened at Launch F18 a small gallery space in Tribeca, NY. The gallery is located directly between White and Franklin street on Broadway and open by appointment only. Saturday evening, guests spilled into the hallway from the tiny rectangular venue which was filled almost to capacity. Guests had to weave between each other and the walls in order to grab a Budweiser, say hello and look at the art. The work presented consists of painting and collage. The theme, as one may guess from the exhibition name is: Some Girls. The title is as vague as it is specific and the content, of course demonstrating members of the female persuasion, is both contemporary as it is timeless.

The female figure is classic and its visual adoration dates back hundreds, actually thousands of years. The works featured communicate with a specific generation by way of the visual translation of body, mouth, eyes into something beautiful both attached to and separate from the original source. Some Girls doesn’t offer a particular self-referential quality, instead it gives the artists a platform for invention and fantasy.  Each painted figure or face appears to be a quixotic proposal that doesn’t necessarily need to be more than the image presented.

Artist Michael Anderson comes close to establishing the possibility for narrative in his collage work. He utilizes torn and cut, found imagery to construct an organized, chaotic, 2-dimensional landscape constructed with various references to popular culture. At times the recognizable images were distracting from the overall composition, but these elements are the composition and put forth a palatable and colorful layer that is both ironic in its criticism as it is sincere.

Many New York based painters emerged for the opening and it was great to see so many familiar faces in one small space. This is what Some Girls does, as an exhibition title it exploits itself by giving artists and viewers an excuse to converge.  However, thematically it participates in a dialogue that centers around the representation of a figure in space, specifically in painting and most importantly, portrays girls who might share a lick of their lollipop, without ever knowing their name. Cheeky.