Gagosian has reconstructed their massive 24th Street location into what can only be called the first and best Lucio Fontana museum in the world.  Every major museum on the planet has one of Fontana’s famous “slashed” canvases, but that isn’t the focus of this exhibition (though they boast the show contains more than a hundred of them).  The focus is 6 “environments” – several rooms (and a maze)that submerge the viewer in a 3 dimensional world of glow-in-the-dark awesome.  My favorite is the small room you enter through a very narrow “slash” in the wall – that, as with every other small room

A photo can transport you to a time and a place OR keep you where you stand, admiring the contrast, composition, and artistry of the object.  What I love most about Avedon is his ability to do both simultaneously.  I was born after these photos were taken and I only immediately recognized the most famous (Warhol, Ginsberg), but the beauty of the photographs kept me in place, made me curious, and has had me on Wikipedia the last 2 days learning everything about who these people were. In the end I’m transported like never before to the late 60s… and I want to go back to the gallery.

A simple concept is taken to it’s awesome extreme. Take a can of paint, pour it on a spot, then repeat with a different color in the same spot hundreds (thousands?) of times. Optional bonus: place various obstructions in the way to force the paint to flow in strange patterns.

I’m typically an anti-title-ist.  But Sherrie Levine’s latest work “A Dazzle of Zebra” will live on in my mind as one of the few great exceptions.   This piece has no overt references to zebras what-so-ever, but with that catchy memorable title (written on the wall as you enter) is stuck in your brain, you begin to look for things and notice things you wouldn’t otherwise.

The Eleven Rivington Gallery has grown beyond its namesake (11 Rivington St). Michael DeLucia inaugurates this new additional space at 195 Chrystie Street with his computer carved plywood sheets.  The show is split between the 2 spaces that are less than a block apart. 195 is my favorite but you should definitely check them both out.