Review: New works at St. Claude Avenue galleries
D. Eric Bookhardt on the latest exhibits at Byrdie's Gallery and Barrister's Gallery
More graphical extrapolations appear at Barrister's Gallery, in Wendell Brunious' Buried Alive painterly pop collages of comic strip characters interwoven with visions of black female stardom, most pointedly in the form of Whitney Houston. Something about the way this is layered is both musical and wavelike, suggesting a visual dirge for the drowned diva. The mood turns ambiguous in Vanessa Centeno's abstract compositions, where viscous reds vie with more bilious shades in works mingling saturated sensuality with creepy science fiction overtones. If this sounds noir, it is.Ryn Wilson's large pseudo film stills of elegant women carrying valises deep into foggy forests, or appearing only as a pair of shapely lifeless legs under a blue velvet dress, convey a darkly atmospheric romanticism, a hint of looming oblivion accompanied, implicitly, by an elegant soundtrack. — D. ERIC BOOKHARDT
This is How We Roll: UNO graduate student work curated by Dan Tague and Tony Campbell
Barrister's Gallery, 2331 St. Claude Ave., (504) 710-4506; www.barristersgallery.com
Show ends Oct. 6th.
