Untitled (Dark Forest), 2008. Oil on canvas, 
57 x 57 inches. James Chronister's solo debut at Eleanor Harwood is a collection of seven monochromatic paintings. Five are depictions of dense forest interiors, two are pictures of Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. To call these paintings landscapes or portraits would be misleading. These works are mediated, pictures-of-pictures that complicate the question of subject matter. Using source photographs found in nature calendars, photo books and the 1972 Rolling Stones, An Unauthorized Biography, Chronister works within the tradition of artists utilizing the visual detritus of popular culture to fashion his paintings. Though... Read More

David Stein's solo exhibition at Eleanor Harwood Gallery, Improbable/Unlikely, is made up of two independent projects, Semesterville and The Unlikely Library. Each is a conceptual take on education and its attendant systems, in which facts and impressions become commingled in an absurd utopia. Semesterville is a large cardboard sculpture made up of small architectural models, the remains of undergraduate projects assigned in the Architecture department at California College of the Arts (from which David, gallerist Eleanor Harwood and this reviewer all graduated). Some are elegant, others ramshackle. Together they form a miniature city that is at once ambitious and abject.... Read More

I am certainly biased, but there is something great about a solo show that could be mistaken for a group exhibition. Rather than offering a one trick pony collection of ho-hum iterations, such shows present a network of varied artistic production that can, when successful, weave a spell far more complex than the standard frontal assault. Admittedly such shows are risky, and can fail disastrously if they are too disparate to gel. Also, the lack of redundancy in such exhibitions requires more precise and patient attention from viewers. However, if the show is good, the investment is usually worthwhile. Figure... Read More