Chawky Frenn @ Fraser

I am queasy.

And let me say it's not cause I'm grossed out. No, not really. Frenn's images are rough but their violence, meat, and blood are welcome in this too straight city. Fraser Gallery had enough problems with nudes leering out their window. Cause we don't deal with sex that well in DC, it causes intrigue, impeachment, and--done roughly--shortens the life of a really good botox job.

But violence? Load up the buckshot and let loose the millionaire geriatric attorneys. We love the violence so much that it began moving out to the suburbs! And Chawky followed suit; Bethesda loves this shit! So I don't think Fraser will see the backlash they experienced last year.

But the queasiness is still there. Malena couldn't stay away from the Frenn book in the center of the Fraser Bethesda Gallery. At first I thought it was the cute Portuguese kid who kept pulling at her hair. But there were other kids painted on the walls for goodness sakes I mean what do you wan-----OH

Wanted that ever elusive thing: the quality:


But then half of the show showed the goods, the mastering of figurative space and the non-over the top mythic references. And half of the show did not. There were amazing works and there were blithe sketches in oil. The book's pedestal was a center point because it held a lot of good stuff that wasn't there.

It's too bad that Georgetown Fraser is gone. If this show was cut, cream off the top, and placed in the smaller old gallery that unceremoniously closed on Wednesday, this would be an incredible show.