Childish, flattened, and floating in anonymous space, Alika Cooper's gouached divas stare out of their canvases, helpless. At "A Cold Wave," the painter takes on Hollywood femininity of the modern era, with a special focus on Farrah Fawcett. Cooper's Fawcetts usually appear in twinned pairs, their shapeliness smeared, but instantly recognizable. Audrey Hepburn comes in for a similar love/smush treatment, making us think of the abyss between how women appear to others versus the bizarre, hypercritical visions they level at their own reflections. Maybe the interiority comes from the women's eyes, which often betray a striking emotional intensity. Elise Irving's "New Lightboxes" runs concurrently.
Sept. 3-Oct. 17, 2009
