Image courtesy Jen Bekman Gallery

In between the general tripping out we’ve been succumbing to in between the sweet relief of cranial therapy and the sweet small death of Dramamine II, we’ve been completely tripping out to painter Sarah McKenzie’s work, a show of which opens tonight at Jen Bekman. Called Building Code, it’s a series of paintings of construction sites. And they’re amazing. The always-articulate (full disclosure: and previous life predecessor) Ms. Bekman on Ms. McKenzie’s painting:

At first glance it seemed photorealistic, in part because it reminds me of the ground well trod by many of my favorite fine art photographers. But look closely and it’s clearly not quite real -there is a flatness in both her paint and perspective that has the primitive feeling of folk art. Take that flatness in and allow yourself to focus on the lines, angles and grids of her work; suddenly you’re fully immersed in geometric abstraction, a la the 20th century Modernists. The familiarity of the subject matter allows me to travel through these genres with ease.

Construction sites! Crazy flatness! Time travel! What’s next, Sarah? Paintings of the insides of imaginary spaceships?

(sayyessayyessayyes)

We’ll be—stay tuned—interacting with the artist in an online format sometime next week. In the meantime, opening party’s tonight from 6-8 at 6 Spring Street, show’s up until April 4.