Luise Ross Gallery Presents Edward Koren Parallel Play: Drawings 1979-2010

Surely everyone who visits this exhibition at Luise Ross Gallery will readily recognize the work of Edward Koren. The denizens of the worlds he prolifically creates are so constantly evolving in his drawings that they are truly unique and unforgettable. He bestows human traits and attitudes on his animals, and his humans are frequently hirsute-sometimes very! -and almost always endowed with noses that qualify to be called proboscises. Fantastical creatures abound, seemingly prehistoric and unimaginable to us, but are the sole creations of Koren's artistic invention. And he places all these characters, his actors, so easily and precisely in the context of the human condition-usually the quotidian, sometimes the profound--that we recognize them as our neighbors, friends, relatives and, indeed, ourselves. In that flash of recognition, we get it. And the "It" makes us smile.

The work in the exhibition runs the gamut from drawings for cartoons to what the artist refers to as his "Fine art or uptown stuff." The distinguishing element in all is Koren's unique use of line. His line. It may be described as both unrelenting and edgy, fidgety but sure, staccato like as it scratches its way almost rhythmically yet frantically across the picture plane. It animates his actors, and engages and pleasures the viewer.

The subject matter of the drawings here includes the relatively innocent foibles, posturing and excess that accompany ordinary contemporary activities. Cocktail parties, social networking, recreation and the like are treated with gentle irony. Koren saves his sharpest pens and acerbic wit for the big issues currently plaguing our society: the plundering of the economy; the state of our health care system; the environment; energy. Once again, Koren's art allows us to get it. But in these latter drawings, "it" leaves us with rueful acknowledgement.

This exhibition at Luise Ross Gallery is coincident with the Edward Koren exhibition, The Capricious Line, at the Wallach Art Gallery of Columbia University, the artist's alma mater, 28 April to 12 June.

Title: Edward Koren
Parallel Play: Drawings 1979 - 2010
Dates: 27 April - 2 June
Opening: Saturday 1 May, 3 - 5 PM

Take the C, E train to 23rd Street
Luise Ross Gallery is on 25th between 10th and 11th Avenues