BlackBook Magazine

Opening on July 26 at LA's Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Berlin's "Canto Negro y Brujerias" gives North American jet-setters a few days to see the work of Barcelona-based artists Miss Van and Victor Castillo. Despite hailing from different parts of the world (Miss Van hails from Toulouse, Castillo from Chile), the pair finds their work unified by the abstract motifs of Spanish culture, superstition, witchcraft, desire, and cruelty. The broad themes of this show allow the artists to make marks with their signature styles. Ultimately, Castillo's comic-book pomp seems like the perfect companion to Miss Van's elegant, if morbid undercurrent. "Canto Negro y Brujerias" runs through August 23.

Hey, remember that time when a bunch of prudes at London's Tate museum presented a Klimt collection with a silly caveat about how it may be unsuitable for minors to see the nudes in his work? The spirit of those prudes rages on in some scrappy, high-strung patrons in Wales -- but not for the same reasons. In fact, after being banned for 60 years, the Gerald Kelly painting is one of the standouts in the Newport gallery's "The Art of the Nude" show. Titled D.D., Kelly's painting features a young coquette posing confidently with a cigarette between her fingers. However, it's not the bare breasts of the painting that have artgoers up in arms, but the lone cigarette, which naturally makes the entire experience an R-rated affair. It's clear that instead of making a hot fuss over nothing, these patrons need to relax, perhaps smoke a few Benson & Hedges themselves, and reassess their handle on the word "art."

Frédéric Magazine certainly isn't yet another fashion glossy or chic decor rag with sights set on the overstuffed Manhattan media mecca; rather, it's an evolving online gallery and collective with an egalitarian attitude. Although prospective members were jokingly encouraged to adopt the magazine's namesake as their own, all current members find themselves connected through the simplicity of their materials. Blotted paper, felt-tip and ballpoint pens, and pencils all belie the intricacy of the compositions hanging on the site's digital walls.

Last night, I found myself Bushwicked, enjoying the company of a couple gifted poets, one of whom has a talent for translating Finnish literature and frequently alludes to her childhood growing up in Oulu, the largest city in Northern Finland. But when she talks about the place (punctuating her anecdotes with nostalgic sighs), there's a peculiarly icy restraint in her stories -- certain details are omitted so that the story's point can shine more. That same restraint is the predominant aesthetic running through one of the more striking exhibitions at the MoMA's PS1 in Queens. "Arctic Hysteria: New Art from Finland" collects interdisciplinary works from 16 Finnish artists, including Pekka Jylhä.

The museum gift shop is tantamount to a little shop of horrors. One one hand, the life's work of artists seems thoughtlessly streamlined and replicated onto coffee mugs and baby-doll tees. On the other hand, these kitschy little things make for keepsakes that speak volumes louder than a dinky ticket stub. And then there are conundrums like Murakami, who designs LV purses -- clearly for the sake of commerce -- but then decides to include them in his show, for the sake of art. Let's assume then, that museum gift shops are lengthening the lifetime and reach of artists otherwise fated to languish in fringe culture, or worse, on the syllabi of advanced art history classes. So maybe it's worth noting the ambitions of Sachi Price.

If you're in New York and hankering for something to break the form of the new MoMa exhibit, swing by Chelsea's Leon Koenig gallery -- where Wendy White's homage to urban decay is on display. "Autokennel" collects White's wildest works, which are macabre celebrations of the filthy, unadulterated side of the city. With the resonance of a rock show in an arena, White's work broadcasts urban culture that hasn't fallen victim to high-rise developers, but still teems with street art, cockroaches, and refuse from Chinatown noodle shops. Much like the Garbage Art at Affirmation, White's work seems part of a larger movement ... a return to art that refuses to be airbrushed and bowdlerized. It's reassuring that although "Autokennel" ends in August, White already has a solo show lined up for next year.

"I'm not sure what to make of that," Edwin Ushiro says when told that Sarah Jessica Parker has teamed up with Bravo to produce the reality series American Artist. "There's no right or wrong way to make art, so I don't know how that would work." Born in Maui and currently living in Los Angeles, Ushiro has been sketching and illustrating his entire life. In fact, he says his mother traces his first artistic inclinations back to when he was just two years old.

New York's MoMA has always been thorough in their multicultural exhibits, and their newest installation, which explores the phenomenon of mass-produced architecture in the suburbs, has been long in the making. Lacking samurai armor or connections to dead languages, "Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling" is definitely one of the more novel meditations of setting and culture at any museum. Sure, any New Yorker can hop on a train from Grand Central to Westchester. But for the uninitiated (or for those who won't spring $20 for a round-trip train ticket), the MoMA exhibit is far more revelatory, recasting pre-fab living as an exotic beast in its own right.

Whereas New York galleries have an unflappable fealty to art classed by influence, taste, and theory, the galleries of the West Coast operate less intellectually and more intuitively as windows, providing insight into the land's breezy consciousness. The group art show at GR2 -- the gallery associated with Giant Robot magazine -- is no exception. With works by 30 artists (such as Yumi Sukugawa), "Suggestion Box" sidesteps highly conceptualized work for boldly narrative pieces, without linking their work to highfalutin' themes or statements. And as much as we all (especially yours truly) love the guesswork involved with complex concept-based art (and the intrinsic photo-op to pose thoughtfully, arms akimbo, and scrutinize the painting at hand), sometimes, it's just more pleasant if the artists opt to fill in the blanks. The GR2 show, opening tomorrow, seems fit to do just that.

While shock artist Andres Serrano may be trying to pass shit off as art, "Garbage Picker! The Contemporary Artist as Chiffonnier(e)" (opening tonight at New York's Affirmation Arts) explores the role of the chiffonniere, or ragpicker. "Ragpicker" might be what thrifty fashionistas call themselves when fishing through their neighbor's trash for "vintage" finds. But instead of trying to recontextualize trash as garments, this Chelsea show utilizes trash as a means of exploring capitalism -- both in its 19th-century incarnation, when the American economy was starting to pick up a little steam, and in its current incarnation, when it resembles a possible outtake of Serrano's latest work.