me and shirley go gallery hopping

So after viewing the dismal Dine show, I took myself and Shirley Bassey who was still singing Goldfinger in my head across the street to the Betty Cuningham Gallery to see the latest show of Philip Pearlstein, hoping that he didn't go all experimental at the age of 89 and start to paint dots and murky abstractions. Happily he hasn't and his show of nude models posing and cropped in his usual fashion and set among objects and toys makes for a very beautiful exhibition. They appear somewhat loser but only in his paint application otherwise they are still severe and sharp as ever. The other shows that I also liked were Gayleen Aiken at Luise Ross who is an outsider artist and is dead, you can't get more outsider than that. These are sweet and marvelous color drawings that look like they were done by a talented but untrained teen, you know the guy or gal who would sit in their classes and draw and sketch in and on their notebooks instead of listening to their teachers. You are greeted at the gallery by these large full figure portraits made of cardboard that are quite startling and are a nice introduction to the goodies that await you inside this small and intimate gallery. Also small and intimate are the paintings of Jennifer Wynn Reeves at the bravinlee gallery. These are mainly lonely, moody surreal like landscapes with touches of mixed media added like wire and molding paste. The edges of her dreams are torn and tattered which only add to the magical effect they have and all of them are enticing they really pull you in. And finally check out the bawdy show of Robert Arneson's big bold busts at George Adams, I wouldn't want to be in the way when these heads start to roll. The show covers three decades of his work and includes some nice zany colorful drawings. So all in all me and Shirley had a fine day looking at art in the galleries of Chelsea in New York City.