ART

Unica Zürn:Drawings from the 1960s | Through Sat., Apr. 16

Artist/writer Unica Zürn's inventive, turbulently detailed drawings are getting the full treatment at Ubu Gallery: Loose on the page, Zürn's fraught forms and figures mutate as her technique fixates an array of decorative patterns-shingled scales, terraced rows, adornments as exquisite and redundant as Persian carpets or henna tattoos. The 70 pieces comprise what is surely the biggest U.S. show of the artist, who took her own life in 1970-and probably the first. "I don't know of another," says Ubu's co-owner, Adam Boxer, who earns kudos for pulling these works together, and continuing Ubu's run of authoritative shows since inaugurating the gallery's larger space alongside the Queensboro bridge with Kurt Schwitters collages.

Now comes Zürn: Best known for being Hans Bellmer's companion and model, Zürn met that most unsettling of Surrealists in 1953 (Bellmer constructed two oversized dolls in the 30s; books and photos of them predate Cindy Sherman's prosthetic outrages by about 60 years, and were shown at Ubu in the 90s and in an ICP retrospective in '01) at a show of his drawings in her native Berlin, where she worked as a journalist. She joined him in Paris where he encouraged her to show her work; their troubled relationship persisted for the rest of their lives.

The Ubu show focuses on Zürn's productive phases during her last decade. Big dragon-like forms are as flimsy as they are fierce, with fabulously detailed sections knit to long, floating lines (one meeker monster drifts over a deserted townscape). Other large-scale works flex with profiles, beaks and serpentine creations; a dozen elaborate feathers flail down towards the spine of a terrifically ornate bust. There's a notable lack of human bodies in Zürn's work, with visages that peer and disappear and an enormous presence of eyes. Certain studies, seemingly derived from African ornamentation (Zürn's father was stationed there), verge on abstraction. Several pieces are recovered from torn fragments, while one wafts from a blank center up to a cloudy accumulation. Green and red watercolors highlight several, and Zürn's fine lines break into intricate dots in places, and minute, concentric wavers that recall Henri Michaux's energized mescaline drawings.

Zürn met Michaux in 1957. The Belgian writer and painter, who detailed a decade of psychoactive experiments in books like Miserable Miracle (his impressive India ink paintings were at The Drawing Center in '00), embodied a childhood fantasy of Zürn's that precipitated her final decade of mental crises, and inspired her late novella, The Man of Jasmine (Ubu plans to offer that book, as well as Zürn's Dark Spring). One of Bellmer's infamous bondage shots of a faceless Zürn is at Ubu. She jumped from his 6th floor balcony; he was interred alongside her, by his own instructions, in Pere Lachaise.

Ubu Gallery, 416 E. 59th St. (betw. 1st & York Aves.), 212-753-4444; 10-6; free.

-Alan Lockwood

Passing/Posing and White: WhitenessPassing/Posing and White: Whiteness

Artist Kehinde Wiley's show at the Brooklyn Museum, "Passing/Posing," seeks to amend the absence of Africans in the art-historical record by creating portraits of young African-American men in the decorative style of Venetian masters, such as the 16th century's Titian or the 18th century's Tiepolo. Wandering the streets of Harlem, Wiley stopped men whose features he liked, showed them pictures of his work and asked them to come to his studio and pose for this series. Naturally, many refused. Those who agreed came dressed in a favorite outfit and then selected a pose from art-history books in Wiley's studio.

The first painting displayed imitates a portrait of a 16th-century nobleman. A young man with braided hair wears a red, oversized baseball T-shirt and baggy pants. His chin is high, his shoulders are back and he holds a pair of gloves.

It's unlikely that this man or any of Wiley's other models visited the Met or studied acting before their photo sessions. Yet their faces reflect a clear understanding of these poses' power. Projecting status, masculinity and vanity, the modern men are every bit as convincing as the originals. Wiley's men, in fact, inject the old images with new meaning, just as Wiley personalizes them through the use of bright background colors, ornate Arabian motifs, Baroque designs or patterns of swirling sperm. Though his painting style is flat and illustrative, much less adventurous than those of the masters he's copied, Wiley does capture each sitter's attitude. Some glare indignantly, while others portray passionate martyrs.

Wiley's men do more than critique the past: They become one with it, guiding viewers beyond the color, the costumes, the issues and age to the enduring expressions of maleness depicted both in these paintings and the originals.

"White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art" is as dry as its title. Trite, condescending and guilt-ridden, the show's message is sadly predictable: White people are evil. Though it features good artists, it does not feature their best work. Long statements detail each piece, directing responses so completely that the actual artworks become a footnote.

"Passing/Posing: Kehinde Wiley Paintings," through Feb. 5, Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Pkwy., (Washington Ave.), Brooklyn, 718-638-5000; Weds.-Fri. 10-5, Sat.-Sun. 11-6; $8, st./s.c., $4.

"White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art," through Feb. 27, International Center of Photography, 1133 6th Ave. (betw. 43rd & 44th Sts.), 212-857-0000; Tues.-Thurs. 10-6, Fri. 10-8, Sat.-Sun. 10-6; $10, s.c. $7.

-Julia Morton

Yasumasa Morimura: Los Nuevos Caprichos

Through Sat., Feb. 26

One way to work your way into art history is to literally insert yourself. Japanese artist Yasumasa Morimura creates series after series of self-portraits in which he utilizes elaborate costumes and props to reproduce the essence of his chosen muse, while still working himself into the classic piece. In his most recent work, Morimura has chosen Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, attempting to enter Los Caprichos, a collection of etchings from the late 18th/early 19th century. In past exhibitions, Morimura has recreated Manet's Olympia, Rembrandt's Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, as well as Frida Kahlo's self-portraits. The resulting images are a hilarious and unsettling blend of East meets West.

Luhring Augustine Gallery, 531 W. 24th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-206-9100; Tues.-Sat., 10-6; free. Ê

-Ellen Keohane

AUTISM/ASPERGERS/ART and YEAR TO YEAR

Through Sat., Feb. 5

Socially aloof and obsessed with order and repetition, Andy Warhol was probably autistic, or so says curator and psychiatrist Larry Dumont. It's easy to recognize the same traits in the work of the 18 emerging and established artists exhibiting this month at Ricco/Maresca Gallery. From Justin Canha's "Itchy-and-Scratchy" cartoon gore and eerie charcoal portraits, to Xyler Jane's infinitesimal color point patterns, the show is a rare glimpse into the rigidly structured minds of autistic spectrum geniuses. "Year to Year," meanwhile, is an intriguing look at the heart and soul of popular photography: the family snapshot.

Ricco/Maresca Gallery, 529 W. 20th St. (betw. 10th and 11th Aves.), 212-627-4819; Tues.-Sat., 11-6; free.

-Anna-Kaisa Walker

Naked Singularities, The Hedonistic Imperative, and Buy It Now.At Black & White Gallery, artist and show curator Megan Foster has focused her attentions on a new art medium-eBay. Shopping and surfing the vast oceans of eBay for cultural feedback, the five women featured in Buy It Now explore families, daydreams, dependency and lava lamps.

Sarah Sweeney purchased 22,000 slides documenting 20 years in the life of an American family. Using software to skillfully cover her tracks, Sweeney blends, adds to and edits the images, conjuring up a rich, emotive subtext. Danielle LaPlante's disturbing DVD, Trust, features storm clouds rolling above a beach where hang female Siamese twins.

A block away, Jack the Pelican presents The Hedonistic Imperative. Visually arousing, the show takes its name and inspiration from David Pearce's 1996 manifesto, which calls on science to end the suffering of sentient beings. Curated by Graham Guerra, the 12 artists chosen to interpret techno-bliss veer stylistically from fantastic environments and sci-fi scenarios, to art historical adaptations, to male aggrandizement and sexual fantasy. Highlights include Norm Paris' impressively drawn, layered comparison of three bodybuilders, and Jerry Kearns' Ripped, a man-sized painting of a muscle bound Jesus, flexing in a field of poppies. Michael Rees' DVD features a computer-generated creature learning to walk. The artist downloaded his virtual object, creating a 3-D model, which is also displayed. Suzanne Walters follows the opposite tract, first sculpting and posing actual doe-like figures, she then paints them into a polychrome world. Kim Keever photographs incredible landscapes created with models and poured paint in his 100 gallon fish tank.

And hung prominently near the front of the gallery, Paul Jacobsen's larger-than-life, wet dream painting features a buxom young woman sitting in a field. Nomadic tents are pitched behind, and though her face is turned away, her crotch is spread open.

Naked Singularities, curated by Shani Khoo Parsons, offers six artists chosen for their inventive conceptual systems. Minako Iwamura arranges images cut from classic Japanese art. Her series titled Floating Worlds is filled with drifting chrysanthemums, ribbons of silky hair, wooden houses and galloping horses. Nicholas Papadakis paints figures trapped by fear, fatigue and indecision. In one painting, a female torso reaches forward with one arm and backwards with the other. With her back to us, she's suspended halfway between a colorful, bubbling sea, swarming with jellyfish, and a vast crystallizing labyrinth. The Hedonistic Imperative is polished and boldly crafted, if a bit shallow. Buy It Now, though visually less slick, connects with shared experiences. And while Naked Singularities lacks self-critical restraint, the artist's conceptual inventions are clearly evident.

Buy It Now - Through Feb. 7Black & White Gallery, 483 Driggs Ave. (betw. N. 9th & N. 10th Sts.), Williamsburg, 718-599-8775; Fri.-Mon., 12-6, free.

The Hedonistic Imperative - Through Feb. 13Jack the Pelican, 487 Driggs Ave. (betw. N. 9th & N. 10th Sts.), Williamsburg, 718-782-0183; Fri.-Mon., 12-6, free.

Naked Singularities - Through Feb. 12Nix Gallery, 104 Reade St. (betw. W. Broadway & Church St.), 212-267-8100; Thurs.-Sat., 12-6, free.

-Julia Morton

Peter Hujar: Night | Through March 5

Art-goers who are intrigued by the 1980s East Village scene currently being profiled at the New Museum of Contemporary Art may be interested in another exhibit a mere two blocks away at the Matthew Marks Gallery, where 43 of Peter Hujar's nighttime black-and- white photographs are now on display. While Hujar fits comfortably into the queer-friendly, socially rebellious milieu that the New Museum exhibit attempts to chronicle, the city Hujar captured is a far different one. While his peers were busy channeling the energy and recklessness of early-80s New York into loud, attention-grabbing works, Hujar offered more subtle evidence of transformation as reflected by the city's landscape.

Images of parked cars and empty intersections, heaps of garbage and lonely figures in shadow all testify to a New York that was quiet and bereft, as though in mourning. Hujar, who died of AIDS in 1987, only a few years after taking many of these photographs, was careful to explore the city from various angles, from the towering skyscrapers of Midtown in early morning to a dilapidated Newark apartment in the middle of the night. Moving from photograph to photograph, one is impressed by a city that's been stripped of its pretenses. The gallery's exhibition space, which consists of a single white-walled room and an unfinished concrete floor, reinforces this sense of intimacy.

Yet snapshots depicting Reagan-era drag queens out on the town, some of whom pose and smirk for the camera, seem to belong to another exhibit, so jarringly do the images contrast with the more cerebral street scenes and contemplative portraits. It may be that Robert Nickas, a P.S. 1 curator who wrote the essay accompanying the exhibit, was deliberately trying to draw comparisons to Weegee, the 40s street photographer for whom Hujar professed admiration. In any case, Hujar was at his best when photographing those elements of the city not calling out so loudly, such as a girl asleep in his hallway, who in her way serves as a perfect metaphor for what Hujar was uniquely able to capture: the city at rest, preparing for more.

Matthew Marks Gallery, 523 W. 24th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-243-0200; 10-6; free.

-Travis St.Clair