Art Hag

Artist Amy Sillman poses a playful question within the title of her current show at Sikkema Jenkins, Transformer (...or, how many lightbulbs does it take to change a painting?) In response to her inquiry, the Detroit-born artist has created a series of new works in various mediums, including "paintings, two different suites of drawings, and a new edition of her one-dollar 'zine The O-G," (from show's press release). Starting with a drawing of a lightbulb, the object symbolizing an idea then "transforms into a flashlight" in a painting, "which in turn becomes a medium for self-reflexive investigation." As the press release states, "The lightbulb is thus a pivotal image for illumination, reflection, transformation, the comic, and obsolescence — a thematic stand-in for the conditions of painting itself."

Sillman's vibrant, vividly colored abstract canvases featuring hazy images of disembodied or warped body parts bear a resemblance to a child's crayon drawings. Her paintings tackle issues like "philosophy, feminism, performativity, and humor." The show's accompanying 'zine, The O-G, created specifically for the exhibit, "allows her paintings to speak, while comically subverting the solemnity that (intentionally or unintentionally) can enshroud shows of abstract or semi-abstract painting." The O-G serves as the Cliff Notes for her complex and elaborate compositions. Another handy cheat-sheet Sillman provides is a funny piece titled Some Problems in Philosophy that lists off philosophers from Adorno to Kierkegaard to Wittgenstein and highlights the "Great" and "Not So Great" points of their theories or of their personalities. Perhaps the most telling, or maybe just cheeky, part of the work is the P.S. at the bottom of the page that crams in the names of women philosophers and notes "Women—who cares what they think? Don't even bother—probably minor stuff." Sillman clearly has a lot on her mind and her canvases almost seem too limiting for her to express it all. Creating a new 'zine for each new series of paintings is an innovative way for the artist to further add to her works and is a nice piece of art viewers can take home for only a dollar. Learn more at Sikkemajenkinsco.com. Through May 15th.

Untitled, 2009-2010, Set of 27, gouache and charcoal on paper