Toxic Beauty: The Art Of Frank Moore. Grey Art Gallery NYU.

I saw the Frank Moore show at The Grey Art Gallery  today, and I found it very good, and intriguing. I wasn't so familiar with his work, maybe that had to do with me shutting down during the 80's because of the stress and strain I was going through from the AIDS epidemic. I lost many people, including my best friend so the New York art world was not on my short list of what needed my attention. These paintings are at first glance quite cheerful colorful, clever and bouncy. Its only until you get close and start looking intently do you see the anger and sadness that Moore who died of AIDS brought to his work. They are still very appealing and beautiful, lushly painted and put together with elaborate frames that become part of the work in themselves. The imagery is crowded and surreal, figurative and fantastic, pop and bucolic, referential and vastly imaginative. Moore was aware. He was aware of the harshness of the politic scene that ignored this disease for so long and like many other artists he brought his illness into his art. He was also concerned about our environment and the horrors we were and still are doing to it. His was a heavy palette. His work should startle and appeal to everyone regardless of gender or sexual orientation, but for this gay man, viewing this show was like a slap to my face. This marvelous exhibit is on view to Dec. 8, along with a companion exhibit which I have not yet seen at NYU's Fales Library.