Realm of the Senses

Realm of the Senses

New York Press

A sensual adventure, the exhibit "Realm of the Senses," now running at the James Cohan Gallery, stimulates your sensory organs with a subtle mastery that leaves you physically and mentally aroused.

Ene-Liis Semper's video Oasis is the first of 18 pieces on display. It features a close-up shot of a young, bald woman. A hand reaches into the frame and opens her mouth; her eyes blink nervously. The hand then shovels dirt down her throat. We choke along with her as more dirt is added and a flower is planted. Finally, she's watered and left to grow... Mother Nature's tribulations made personal.

As you swallow hard to clear your throat, you notice a familiar smell. Entering the front gallery, your eyes are relieved and your nose refreshed by the sight of 50 pounds of blue-green, cellophane-wrapped mint candies. Conceived by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, this queen-size bed of glimmering, crinkly sweets is visually and aromatically tempting. If you ask the receptionist, you may be allowed to take a piece, as it was the artist's intention to break down the precious formality of fine art by inviting audiences to join the creative experience.

Hanging on the back wall is Fred Tomaselli's 13,000, a dark-blue and white striped abstract painting/sculpture. Look closer, and you'll see that the thin, wobbly white stripes are actually piles of aspirin embedded in clear resin. At once humorous and painful is the thought of what might cause someone to need that much aspirin; is it a lifetime supply or a month's? This room is easy to linger in. The colors, fragrances, textures and subjects complement each other and inspire more hard swallows.

Sound fills the next room, coming from Sean Duffy's The Touch, an assemblage of three turntables playing a single record in three places at once. Musically similar yet disconnected, the tracks blend in harmony then become abruptly discordant.

Across the room, Ugo Rondinone painted an optical illusion in the form of a multicolored bull's eye. Walking back and forth past the circular seven-foot canvas, the airbrushed circles trigger hallucinations. Though your eyes try to grip the edges and focus the image, the artist's skillful use of color and paint dissolve into a dizzying whirlpool.

Well-curated, this provocative show ends with Patty Chang's alluringly repellent video. A pretty young woman sits on the floor, neatly dressed in a black skirt and a blue shirt, her chest wet and palpitating. From her animated expressions, it's hard to tell if her reaction is sexual, painful, or fearful. The title, Eels, explains all. Several eels are slithering about under her blouse. She softly locates their snaky bodies with her hands when suddenly, they writhe in a spastic frenzy causing you and the young woman to lurch and gasp in terror.

You may want to pick up that mint as you leave the gallery to ease your mind and calm your senses.

James Cohan Gallery, 533 W. 26th St. (between 10th & 11th Aves.). 212-714-9500: 10-6, free.