War pigs

Etchings by Goya, that master of the human condition. "Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War)" is a searing, haunting testament. From the opening image of a supplicant to the 80th page, "Will She Live Again?", all is harrowing. Brutality is the everyday. Attempted rape, dismemberment, corpses being stripped. A woman engaging in battle, baby under one arm. Violence: relentless and macabre. The despondency of those left. The final works are allegories: carnivorous giant bats and orating barnyard animals. It's be comical if it weren't so horrifyingly timeless.

This series was Goya's reaction to Spain's War of Independence against the French (aka Napoleon). No doubt Eddie Adams and Robert Capa were familiar with it.

Enough has been written about war, and plenty has been written about Goya. The work speaks for itself. Go.




Francisco de Goya, Los Desastres de la Guerra (The disasters of War), at Peter Blum
99 Wooster St.
212-343-0441
through Aug. 1
www.peterblumgallery.com

Images courtesy of Peter Blum Gallery, New York.

Summer trio

Arcimboldo's progeny goes to the countryside. Landscapes made out of food: in "Salmon Sea", slices of the preserved fish evoke waves coming gently to shore; pumpernickel rocks provide perspective. A delicate pea pod -- swanlike bean sprout emerging from between perfect globes -- is too gorgeous to eat.* Other images are equally tasty: "Broccoli Forest," "Cabbage Sea," "Fruit Balloons" (which surely belongs on Sir Richard Branson's wall). These color prints (not digital, although the produce is preternaturally vivid) had me howling. My fave was "Fruit Balloons", with rolling fields of prone asparagus, cucumber, and ears of corn. Berries float through the sky attached to the aforementioned contraptions. Curly parsley as a framing device. Carl Warner, what are you smoking and can I have some, please?
Cool and elegant and redolent of forbidden pleasures: Donald Sultan records smoke rings on a black ground. Pearly and crisp, wafting ephemeral/eternal. Formal in their gelatin silver and sorrowfully beautiful.
One wants to sniff (fucking brat) at Mark Gonzalez, who shows pics from his Sidekick. For sure, they're immediate. He's on his skateboard. Snap & split. The photos are laser prints, fer chrissake, with all the low-res (odd colors, highlights blown out) you'd expect from a camera phone. But what colors! A marvelous composition of pink bald pate, straw-yellow hair, persimmon ear and cobalt upholstery had me riveted. Alas, a good chunk of the 158 images is navel-gazingly diaristic.
Oh well. We all know reality is what you make of it.


Topsy Turvy, at Janet Borden
560 Broadway
212-431-10066
through July 31
www.janetbordeninc.com

*Good thing the gallery is above Dean & DeLuca.