the selfportrait.net blog

Normally, I only write about the galleries in the Paris, but on a recent trip to NYC I stopped by the Melville Gallery down at the South Street Seaport. It is a small gallery run by the South Street Seaport Museum. The show, Plastic Topography, curated by Carl Eckhoff, runs through the end of September. The artist roster includes: Steven Baines, Kim Baranowski, J.J. Garfinkel, Adam Henry and Duke Riley.

These works alternate back and forth between the emotional and the absurd - sometimes causing a vast sense of aloneness, sometimes loss, sometimes teasing and, at times, they are even more playful on your second look. The photographs of Antartica, by Kim Baranowski, awe with their absolute beauty and striking colors of nature. At first look, you too might not be able to tell they are real. I had to ask. Although this is just a small look at what these artists have created, you are left wanting more ... perhaps the best indication of a successful show.

Duke Riley, "Photograph of Duke Riley in the Acorn Submarine"