Tag: Jacob Patrick Brooks

Group Shows

Savoring medium-rare painting at Subtitled NYC

Contributed by Zach Seeger / The group exhibit “Medium Rare” – on display at Subtitled NYC, a second-floor Greenpoint gallery with a skylight – features paintings by Amanda Ba, Jacob Patrick Brooks, Marcus Civin, Sam Cockrell, Kevin Ford, Annette Hur, and Kate Liebman. It was curated – or rather, prompted – by Jaejoon Jang, who instructed the artists to select examples of what they considered unfinished work. Without knowledge of this specification, it would be difficult for a viewer to consider the pieces unfinished. The overarching cohesiveness of the show makes each one seem resolved. In light of Jang’s command, though, they can also be seen as hovering just outside of the artists’ respective oeuvres, meeting only some of their criteria for finished work.

Gallery shows

An exhilarating gut punch at Shoot the Lobster

Contributed by Jacob Patrick Brooks / I take it as a bad sign when galleries seize an opportunity to “respond” to something. At best, it’s slightly out of touch. The nature of putting on a thoughtful show is that it takes time and effort to pull off. Generally, the result is that it misses the moment. “New Images of Women” at Shoot the Lobster avoids this pitfall. It manages to be both provocative and timely. The work is carefully chosen, the message well-crafted and delivered like a perfectly timed punch in the stomach. 

Solo Shows

Louis Osmosis’ gleeful despair

Contributed by Jacob Patrick Brooks / Titled “PLEASE IT IS MAKING THEM THANKS:),” Louis Osmosis’s debut solo show at Kapp Kapp Gallery in Tribeca feels like a 1,000-piece puzzle that’s been dumped on a table. Everything fits together, but it’s not immediately clear how.

Solo Shows

Jobi Bicos: Figuration inside and out

Contributed by Jacob Patrick Brooks / People love to categorize stuff, however silly it sometimes seems. Despite the best efforts of post-modernist artists to remove separations among media, they have proven surprisingly resilient. If you subvert categories, new ones tend to take their place. Jobi Bicos, whose work is currently on display at Lubov on the Lower East Side, is a savvy and interesting artist not because they�re trying to destroy them outright, but because they�re straddling several at once.

Group Shows

A good long look, at Spencer Brownstone

Contributed by Jacob Patrick Brooks / As you walk into Honoring the Dog-Legging Horizon at Spencer Brownstone Gallery, something feels off. The sense is vague at first, but it becomes clearer as you alternate between hunching in close or backing up more than usual. The show is hung low, by about a foot, to encourage sitting down, and the work is well worth taking in fully.

Solo Shows

Andrew Cranston’s dazzling seduction

Contributed by Jacob Patrick Brooks / I try not to go to galleries alone. If I dont have someone to moderate me and make sure that I spend an appropriate amount of time viewing work, I can speed through without sufficiently absorbing it, to my own detriment. Yet, even on my own, I was immediately captivated by Andrew Cranstons deceptively quiet, soft paintings in his current show Waiting for the Bell at Karma.