In a summer of sprawling group shows that range from the gutsy to the foreboding, it’s a fine change of pace to come across “Painting in Space” at Luhring Augustine, which contains a relatively succinct collection of (predominantly strong) works in a variety of mediums by 25 firmly established artist.
Many of the highlights are paintings in the most classical sense (pigment on canvas), like the almost perversely spare Wade Guyton inkjet (his Whitney show opens exactly three months from today), a small and aggressively weird Charline von Heyl with waves of charcoal and gold and a streaking one line, and a richly patterned R. H. Quaytman.
Even if, like Times critic Roberta Smith, you find the selection a bit incoherent (the show’s title is a riff on a phrase from art historian Rosalind Krauss), it’s hard to begrudge a show that offers up major pieces by Rachel Harrison, Mark Handforth and Martin Creed in the middle of summer.
Also, it’s for a noble cause: the gallery is handing over proceeds from sales to the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, whose executive director, Tom Eccles, and director of graduate studies, Johanna Burton, curated the show.
