Gallery nine5 | The Worley Gig

BAST Neon Sign (All Photos By Gail)

Gallerist Eric Allouche (Opera Gallery) has reopened his now eponymous gallery with a pop-up space on Wooster Street after leaving Opera/Allouche’s long-held previous address on Spring Street, where we attended many, many exhibits over the span of a few short years. The Wooster Street address is just temporary, until Allouche can find an ideal new home in which to showcase the works of his cache of represented contemporary pop artists, such as Ron English and FAILE. A low-key opening reception took place last Thursday and fans of the gallery were more than happy to have a destination to draw them in from the newly-arrived polar vortex holding adventure-seeking Manhattanites in its tight grip.

FAILE: Fox Hunt Go Get Em

The current exhibit is a bit of a ‘warm up’ or re-boot, featuring both new and older works in Allouche’s collection. If you were fortunate enough to attend last summer’s FAILE exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, then the above collage will look familiar to you, as will the bright Neon sign in the gallery’s front window, which was included in the BAST/FAILE Arcade collaboration.

Fox Hunt Go Get Em Detail

Also on display are the Japanese Manga-influenced works by Jessica Lichtenstein, including the title piece from her Afterglow exhibit seen previously at Gallery nine5.

Afterglow Detail

Lichtenstein’s works are recognizable for the flocks of tiny naked ladies in her images; which, from a distance, can easily be mistaken for blossom clusters. Clever.

Jessica Lichtenstein: War (2013) Edition of 3

She has also this piece in the show, which is populated with hyper-sexualized, semi-clad females cavorting on WMDs. War is Hell.

Rafa Macarron, Caos

Spanish artist Rafa Macarron has several of his mix-media large canvases in the show. His cartoonish drawings are lots of fun.

Caos, Detail

Ron English, All American Lady Lick

Kid Zoom, Rose

Dustin Yellin, Psychogeography Study, Matter

The gallery has a small rear space, where they managed to stage a surprising number of pieces, including these two glass/acrylic sculptures by Dustin Yellin.

Dustin Yellin, Zulu Jungle Cave No. 1

Andy Warhol, Map of Eastern USSR Missile Bases

And of course, the Holy Trinity of late, NYC-based pop artists, Warhol, Haring and Basquiat are all represented.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled Drawings

Allouche Gallery Pop-Up Space is Located at 148 Wooster Street, Between Price and Houston, in Soho, NYC. Permanent Location Coming Soon!

All Photos By Gail

Fans of Japanese Anime, Manga and the Superflat school of Pop Art founded by Takashi Murakami won’t want to miss Jessica Lichtenstein’s latest collection, Afterglow, on exhibit now at Gallery nine5 in Soho. Afterglow is the third solo exhibit by the artist at the gallery.

Spring

It’s worth noting that when I first saw photos of Jessica’s work, I assumed I was looking at Asian Landscapes depicting flowering trees. But it only took a cursory look once we were in the gallery to notice that the abundant “blossoms” clustered around the tree branches are actually tiny naked ladies!

Detail from Spring

Known for her large acrylic word sculptures that serve as a playground for frolicking female figures, Lichtenstein juxtaposes these works with new sculptures that present a contemplative environment for her signature, lascivious heroines. While still examining facets of femininity and fetishism, Afterglow offers an emotional lens through which to examine relationships. According to the show’s press release, the current exhibit at nine5, “manifests sexuality in a delicate and sensitive way and thus invites the viewer to bask in the ‘afterglow’ of desire.” I would agree with that sentiment, as the show seems more sensual than sexual, and it is also full of humor and playfulness.

Winter

Winter Detail

Afterglow features four circular sculptures of the Seasons series that are inspired by nature as a metaphor for the cycle of relationships – pink blossoms bursting from the trees in Spring, or the iced over world of Winter (both pictured above). These works also highlight the tension between the individual vs. the collective. Each girl is poised in a different position and is reacting to the environment, however together the figures unite in a singular image of a tree and its leaves, thus describing the collective strength of women regardless of differences in emotions and reactions.

Bliss

Alongside the Seasons are Lichtenstein’s word sculptures, which, again in text taken from the Press Release, “toy with the pornographic world of Japanese-inspired comic books. Creating her own imagined fantastical landscapes infused with a highly sexualized environment, Lichtenstein places appropriated heroines in scenes that are reminiscent of Renoir’s, Cezanne’s or Picasso’s “nude bathers”; scenes that harken back to a time of “female as muse.” The works, layered behind a thick buffer of acrylic, take a critical distance from their own content and in fact, beg the viewer to do the same.

Wet

Through this intermediary, the viewer is asked to engage with and question whether Lichtenstein’s characters are depicted solely to satisfy an insatiable male-dominated gaze, or if such a theory is too narrow, neglecting to address the complex nature of women and their agency in terms of sexuality and desirability. To me, it seems much less complicated. I just think her artwork is lovely and fun.

Detail from Wet. Yes, I See Boobs.

Ultimately, you can interpret Jessica Lichtenstein’s works as having a deep socio-sexual resonance, or you can appreciate them as gorgeous, lighthearted and colorful works of Contemporary / Pop Art that also challenge you to think while you look at them.

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