Los Angeles-based artist Russell Crotty makes ink drawings
of nighttime skies based upon his own astronomical obser-
vations. Merging two and three dimensions, he draws on large
globes, inverting our notions of planet and sky. We become
boundless observers of a contained universe.

Crotty also combines the drawings into giant books, the scale
of which again manipulates our sense of place in the cosmos.
The books include anecdotal text and notations from his field
expeditions, exhaustively descriptive and intentionally verging
on bad poetry and self-parody.

Crotty's work will be included in The Museum of Modern Art
(New York) exhibition "Contemporary Drawing" in October and
the San Jose Museum of Art's "Post Cool" exhibition in
November.

New York-based Jess von der Ahemakes exquisite paintings using
blood and gold-leaf on pristine white surfaces. The finished works
are encased in resin like precious relics. References to medieval icons,
Viennese Secessionist painters (i.e. Gustav Klimt), and modern design
all come into play in these works. There is a lightness and refinement
to the new paintings that contradicts conventional notions of their
media. They shimmer, beckon and delight like jewels, butterflies, or
delicate pastries.