Good and Lonely Luminous Structure No. 2 by Miles Mendenhall

The Half Gallery in LES usually brings out some cool kids and downtown luminaries like the ThreeAsFour designers, photographers like Mark Borthwick, the curator Neville Wakefield, smatterings of Vogue editors, and Purple Magazine editor Olivier Zahm at his sweaty best. But last week, perhaps, an impostor entered the works: Miles Mendenhall, a 23 year old artist and a competitor on Bravo Television’s “Work of Art.” Mendenhall, who has made some nifty curved wooden chairs in the past and likes to paint gruesome takes on Salvador Dali paintings, concentrated this time on printmaking. Most of the black and white checked or circled images on the wall seemed blurred, purposely. A friend indicated that they looked like something that you’d find in a yuppie furniture store.

Apparently, Mendenhall was selected for the show since one of the gallery owners, Bill Powers, appeared as a judge on “Work of Art.” So the kid did get some props from mainstream television. Personally, I like the checked scarf print that really collided in the best way with my pal, artist Megan Marrin’s shirt. (See below.) Marrin also crafted the jewels around her neck, the fab red and white circle and the doll’s leg, which she procured from a doll cemetery in Germany. Wow. Suddenly, Mendenhall really pales in comparison.

Miles Mendenhall, August 24th- September 14th, Half Gallery, 208 Forsyth Street.

Megan Marrin unknowingly came coordinated to the show; great neck ornaments, made by her.