Dan McCarthy at Anton Kern - New York

Honolulu-born, Brooklyn-based Dan McCarthy uses oil on canvas, but his paintings often look as if they were made with watercolor or gouache. He is fond of thin paint and frequently layers a dark blue or black wash over phosphorescent pastel hues. His subjects are reliably pleasant: mountains, girls in bikinis, skateboards, birds and rainbows appear again and again, as if the artist desired to document and share a happy fantasy world.

McCarthy renders things in a simple, two-dimensional manner. Skateboards, for instance, are horizontal lines that curl up at the ends; mountain peaks are triangles. But the compositions are elegant in their simplicity, and in several cases, they also involve the appropriation of Catholic iconography. When McCarthy paints a bikini girl on a skateboard with her arms outstretched--Pads (#18), 2003--it's hard not to be reminded of a crucifix. In Deckhand (#11), 2003, a young man in bathing briefs has an aureolelike rainbow surrounding his body. In Spring (#16), 2003, a lovely-looking, long-haired girl holds her right hand up in a gesture reminiscent of Christ signifying the Holy Trinity. The ocean stretches out behind her head, which is encircled by a rainbow. Birds sit on the branches of a tree superimposed on the sky, signifying, one presumes, that nature is good and right.

Though McCarthy often renders scantily clothed women (and occasionally men), the style in which he does so is more totemic than cutesy or sexy. Mysterious aquatic symbolism abounds. In Spring (#1), 2003, two fish suckle at the breasts of a nude woman. In The Odessa Style (2001), a woman wearing one blue shoe and one red shoe walks with a large fish cradled in her arms. A number of hands reach out from the left side of the picture frame, as if to take the fish.

Although McCarthy's paintings visually mimic those made in homage to religious figures and occurrences, his agenda seems less spiritual than surrealistic. Among the few smaller paintings in the show with writing on them was one that has what look like silhouettes of penguins marching across a red background. Following some sort of dream logic, the accompanying text reads "Duck Sauce."

COPYRIGHT 2003 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group