East Village Afternoon

While the Outsiders show attracts crowds and protests to the Bowery, on East 6th Street, in the twin shadows of the Cooper Square Hotel and the Cooper Union "Hive," the little American Painting gallery goes local, featuring the work of artists Andrei Kushnir and Michele Martin Taylor in a show called "East Village Afternoon."


East 6th Street West, Andrei Kushnir

Taylor's paintings, floral and foggy, bring to mind Pierre Bonnard, a favorite of poet Frank O'Hara, who mentions the painter in "The Day Lady Died," which recalls a moment with Billie Holiday at the 5 Spot when the 5 Spot was here, right around the corner.

Kushnir's paintings also conjure the remnants of our lost city. Small paintings feature neighborhood storefronts--Moishe's Bakery, Saifee Hardware, Lanza's. I was most taken by his capturing of the East Village in its transition from an accessible community of low-rise tenements to a glass-towered party destination for the affluent.

His "East 6th Street West" shows tenements dwarfed by the monstrous Cooper Square hotel, a scene that reminds me of Edward Hopper's "Early Sunday Morning," the little brick buildings defenseless as the shadow of something large looms in the corner.


Past Present Future, Andrei Kushnir

"Past Present Future" shows Taras Shevchenko Place as it was very recently, before the glass went up on the Cooper Union Hive. It's a familiar New York sight: the half-constructed skeleton of another box, the blue walls, the day-glo safety fencing. It looks as if something alien has landed among the startled masonry, warning of more to come.

The show runs until November 2.