Franklin Evans

Franklin Evans, “paintingassupermodel,” at Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe through August 1

Understated and subtle are two adjectives that will never be applied to Evans’s work. For his debut at this gallery, he cannibalizes the entire space — including the floors — creating a massively dense, referential installation that’s terrifically entertaining to get lost within. Paint-spattered tape, computer print-outs, enlarged-and-stretched digital photos, and architectural schematics cover the walls; Plexi vitrines hold photographs and tiny sculptural odds-and-ends.

A joyously crowded exhibition aiming to mingle contemporary artists with so-called “outsiders,” this show also includes pieces that aren’t strictly art at all — like a 19th-century Japanese futon cover hung next to (and partially under) a dyed-textile painting by Cheryl Donegan. Other highlights: One of Brian “Hey I'm In Every Group Show This Summer” Belott’s sock-and-glass works; a huge Chuck Webster painting; two of Gina Beavers’s sculptural canvases, paired next to mid-’50s photographs of female dolls by Morton Barlett; and a beautiful little Forrest Bess mountain landscape from 1968.

Chatbots, tongues, denial, & various other abstractions,” at Bortolami through August 22

The chatbots mentioned are three conversational drones programmed by Ian Cheng to talk amongst themselves, endlessly, for a multimedia piece in the back of the gallery. As for the tongues, those are included in Carissa Rodriguez’s large-scale lingual photographs — uncomfortable close-ups of the organ in question, covered in marker annotations pointing out imperfections and problem areas in each fleshy surface. Also included: A multi-channel video work by Melanie Gilligan, with accompanying lenticular prints, and four terrific sculptures by Anicka Yi, who takes common materials — glycerin soap, fish oil vitamins, dog food — and imbues them with a kind of slapstick Beuysian, shamanic quality. The quartet of works, brilliantly illuminated within individual light boxes and bearing titles like “The Easy Way To Quit New York” and “The Question Is Why Would You Recognize My Face Tomorrow,” are worth the trip alone.

That’s The Neighbor, Always Dressing These Boulders In The Yard,” at Suzanne Geiss Company through August 2

Curated by painter Torey Thornton — who has his own high-profile solo opening at L.A.’s OHWOW in September — this group exhibition includes omnipresent 2014 summer-show stars Ted Gahl and Brian Belott. The latter contributes a number of scrappy, colorful collage works; Gahl has a small painting of flowers and a larger canvas that incorporates an enlarged image of a house painter that the artist has scavenged from his own childhood drawings. Eric Mack’s “Partition” — a wall of messily painted pegboards — divides the gallery space in two, while his sculpture with moving blankets and other media, “Finding Comfort in Easy Distinction,” slumps against the far wall like a dejected drunk.  

Displayed," at Anton Kern Gallery through August 22

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