High and Low

Today was Lower East Side Gallery day for me and so I headed south and east to check out the latest from the other end of the earth. But first just a mere block away from my home was Exit Art's "Geometric Days."  The clear standouts were Paul Pagk's paintings. Pagk has been at it for over two decades and the paintings in this show are both sensuous and smart.    

Paul Pagk at Exit Art thru April 30

Meanwhile the Lower East Side scene was quiet with some interesting shows at Miguel Abreau, Leslie Heller and Invisible-Exports.  The latter had a group show based on Susan Sontag's famous essay, "Notes on Camp."  This show was titled "Notes on Notes on Camp."

The king of camp in all media is John Waters and he did not disappoint with his big oversized "Rush"  bottle of poppers.  It deploys the Oldenburg, Gober  "make it big" formula but the 

spill and crinkly yellow wrapper are too creepy for comfort and just looking at the thing gave me a headache and made me dizzy.  Rather effective I would say.

John Waters at Invisible-Exports thru May 8