Jason Foumberg

There is no conceptual trick to being seduced by and pulled into Amy Mayfield's world of visual pleasure; all you'll need are your eyes and your wagging tongue. See the world through the eyes of a kitten in heat that has its own stash of magic mushrooms. Claws and prickly dick intact, nightmarish cuteness will unabashedly ravish even the most timid viewer. Mayfield's paintings cast a spell in a pitch that ranges somewhere between the mermaid's fantasy siren song and a rabid libidinal caterwaul of cartoonish gore (a la the "Happy Tree Friends"). These pictures cut, gut, thrash and finally woo the senses in a choreographed and glorious bloodbath of paint, replete with tiny flowers.

Amy Mayfield shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 East Chicago, (312)280-2660. Through April 29. (2007-04-10)

Also by Jason Foumberg

Tip of the Week
Trench warfare has never been so safe and clean as it is in Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla's new collaborative artwork, "Wake Up"
(2007-04-03)

Portrait of the Artist
Michael x. Ryan has been stalking himself for many years. Like an anthropologist in the field, Ryan has charted his lines of movement in and throughout the cities of Chicago, Manhattan and Krems, Austria. The products of Ryan's pursuits usually take on the form of scientific documentation, such as statistical charts or maps
(2007-03-06)

Gallery of Gallerists
Partners in business and in marriage, Ryan Schulz, 30, and Jodi Navta, 32, opened an art gallery in rural Wisconsin several years ago with the foresight that they would eventually bring it to Chicago. Now celebrating its one-year anniversary in Chicago, NavtaSchulz Gallery, located beneath the green line El tracks on West Lake Street, is gaining a reputation as a reliable tastemaker due to its directors' dedication to talented artists
(2007-02-27)

Tip of the Week
As you enter Max King Cap's "video opera" installation, a booming voice from a darkened corner spouts an abstruse narrative full of symbols and cryptograms
(2007-02-20)

Portrait of the Artist
(2007-01-30)

Tip of the Week
(2007-01-30)

Portrait of the Artist
(2006-12-19)

Tip of the Week
(2006-12-19)

Portrait of an Artist
(2006-12-12)

Tip of the Week
(2006-11-07)

Tip of the Week
(2006-10-10)

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