Last Chance

Catch It or Regret It

by Lydia Navatsyk

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Published: Feb 13, 2007

The introduction to "Empathetic" tells us that empathy is the only human superpower — it can even shorten the distance between art and its viewer. Through sketches, video and installations, 10 artists enact scenes of exaggerated human desire, record the effects of groups interacting while wearing mirrored masks, and translate poetic, diarylike entries into notarized documents. Together, the work forms an exhibit in which art can best be understood as "other people's experiences."

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In the neo-surrealist world of "Winter Faction," the carnivalesque reigns (pictured). At the whims of 32 artists, religious figures, pop icons and characters of childhood fantasies all succumb to the grotesque and bizarre. Neither youth nor old age remains innocent: A blond child stands over a limp goldfish, her hands the instruments of its death; in another image, the wizened skin of an elderly man and woman transforms them into goblinlike creatures. The images may repel us, but they keep our gazes fixed.

In their focus on urban landscapes, Brian Kase and Robert Fuentes capture irony in images. Kase displays portraits next to photos of brightly painted churches; Fuentes depicts the decay of Roosevelt Island's Small Pox Hospital through a fish-eye lens, making each picture seem as if he is peeking through a hole in the rubble. The ruins contrast with the skyline as a symbol of neglected ambition.

 

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