In Chelsea on a Saturday

Took a trip to the Chelsea galleries. An honest appraisal: most of what I saw was weak, bad, or a retread. But not everything, and I get as much out of seeing things I don't like as those I do. Sometimes more. What I do recommend:

Kohei Yoshiyuki: The Park

"For these photos, taken in Tokyo’s Shinjuku, Yoyogi, and Aoyama parks during the 1970s, Mr. Yoshiyuki used a 35mm camera, infrared film, and flash to document the people who gathered there at night for clandestine trysts, as well as the many spectators lurking in the bushes who watched—and sometimes participated in—these couplings."

That continues at Yossi Milo Gallery (525 West 25th Street) until October 20th.

Jeon Joonho

"Jeon has created his first multi-channel work for this New York debut. The 527 West 23rd Street space features a 5 channel video installation; each of the 5 computer animations exist on their own, yet, when presented together take a different shape both literally and figuratively. In one, an anime character is left crying after a brief encounter in a hotel room, the score resembling the music played in a Hitchcock film just before the climactic moment. Another shows a line drawing of General MacArthur, notorious leader of the United Nations Command Force, repeating the same phrase ("I shall return")."

The highlight for me was the ice skating toy soldiers of "Hyper Realism (Statue of Brother). The show continues through October 13th.

I also enjoyed and recommend both shows at Yancey Richardson Gallery (535 West 22nd), but should note I'm not an untirely unbiased observer. The photographs of Laura Letinsky illustrate an interesting point for me, as well: some photographs work differently at web-presentation size than at full size on the wall. The gentle dashes of color in the large white and grey expanses of these images need to be seen at full scale.

As well, I recommend Candida Hofer's work at Sonnabend (536 West 22nd Street), but I've seen this work a number of times already in other venues . If you haven't, though, definitely take a look.

Of course, since we were just there as a quick trip, we left about half of the galleries undone. Next trip.