John Berggruen Gallery : Christopher Brown - Recent Paintings; Clare Kirkconnell - Looking Up.

Comment by AB: According to the briefing (with footnotes), Christopher Brown weaves memory and recollection into familiar scenes from the past 20 years of his life, and voila-- remarkably effective mindscapes where reverie coexists with reality. Brown's one of my favorite artists mainly because his paintings are equally impactful with or without explanatory-- one of those rare instances where the art transcends the need for preface. You apply your interpretations, whatever they may be, and you're satisfied; no questions asked and none necessary. Excellent through and through. Priced $40K-$110K.

In the penthouse, Clare Kirkconnell presents a series of oil paintings which together represent "her personal view of the sky, in various states of day and night and often populated by flocks of birds." Fair enough. With perhaps one or two exceptions, the differences from sky to sky are so minor it's kinda like looking at the same painting over and over again, or at best, the same sky at different times on a day when the weather barely changed. I dunno. Priced $15K-$28K.

***