Get Out Tonight!: Gallery Opening @ Roq la Rue

The new joint show (plus a mini) opening tonight at Roq la Rue (2312 Second Ave., 6 - 9 p.m.) is a bit of a departure from previous shows that were heavy with dark themes. The three artists on display tonight each borrow heavily from distinct cultures (Japan and Mexico, respectively) to create elegant, whimsical paintings.

Tessar Lo, an Indonesian raised in Canada, uses his soft, watercolor palette to create evocative narratives of youth and transformation. In many of his elegant paintings, juveniles interact with their totems--tigers, elephants--in a wilderness, in scenes infused with a powerful sense of transformation. Adolescents' faces seem to disappear into the changing of the seasons; totems explode into increasingly abstract, hard-edged shapes shapes which seem to jump out of the frame. Lo has also prepared a large installation in the gallery.

Moira Hahn similarly finds her inspiration in Japanese art, replacing human figures with animals in imitations of Edo-era woodblock prints. This device forces the images into narratives which explore issues of extinction and environmental crisis.

And finally Bill Blair produces a clever and entertaining mini-show with "Recuerdos de Mexico." A pastiche of "tall tale" post-cards from post-war America, Blair uses digital technology to create incongruous collages which are then photographed in black-and-white and hand-painted with photo ink to perfectly capture the effect. They're marvelous, funny little pieces well worth a look.