McCaig-Welles Gallery

Read the full review:

http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/reviews/davis/davis8-26-05_detail.asp?picnum=8

"To Hell with the Hamptons" at McCaig-Welles

Meanwhile, over at McCaig-Welles Gallery at 129 Roebling, the title of the show says it all: "To Hell with the Hamptons." Much less focused than the Joymore get-together, this group show has the feeling of a rooftop end-of-the-summer barbeque. Opening with a sangria party on Aug. 17, 2005, and pricing the works very affordably, the owners of M-W have conceived of the exhibition as a way to bring their stable of artists to the public, a group that includes Joel Dugan, Sam Friedman, the Goldmine Shithouse, R. Nicholas Kuszyk, Travis Lindquist, Richard Mirando, Sean Taggart and SEEN. Some of the most eye-catching pieces at the crowded show are already sold, like Koren Shadmi’s small, moody, richly colored painting depicting a pregnant woman sunning herself as two demonic children go wild in the background, snapped up for $260.

McCaig-Welles has gained a lot of cred for consistently championing street artists rather than career-minded art-school grads, and one of the standouts in this packed display is the Minneapolis-born Logik, a youthful polymath who moves between painting, comic strips, illustration and his signature graffiti character, who is a sort of African-American secret agent. Here, several of his crisp pen-and-ink drawings (most of them only $125 -- you get more bang for your buck in Billyburg!) breathe an enthusiasm that is truly endearing.

Logik’s concerns are typical comix fare: tortured mutant men, languorous vamps and edgy but celebratory emblems of youth culture –- one features an ominous crow perched on the arm of a turntable, the needle of which appears to be dripping with blood, as if the bird has been drawn by the promise of a fresh kill.

The point is not just to riff on vernacular culture, but to participate in it without (too much) posturing or explanation about what it all "means." Logik’s use of simple –- though artfully accomplished –- black ink illustration, leaving most of the sheet blank, mirrors his direct relation to his source material. A drawing of Thelonius Monk, eyes closed and head bent as he engages directly with his music, is a nice metaphor for the artist himself.