For the next two bodies of work, “Fall’’ and “To Say It Isn’t So,’’ Letinsky used Styrofoam and plastic discards as her subject matter. Yet her treatments imbue them with an almost spiritual power. “Untitled #8’’ from “Fall’’ features a plastic pudding cup and spoon, smeared with chocolate pudding. It sits in its white surroundings beside a plane of sunlight that might be a heavenly portal.
The works from the final grouping, “The Dog and the Wolf,’’ portray shattered flower arrangements. “Untitled #17’’ is a sad, gorgeous piece. The light is dusky, but the fallen petals and shards of glass nearly glow with what light is left. Like many of Letinsky’s photos, this one is about loss. When the feast is over and the flowers have died, she’s searching for what remains.
The show in the back room at Carroll and Sons, Michael Lewy’s digital video “City of Work: Office’’ shares many of Letinsky’s themes. Lewy created a fictional office space with design software. He inserts himself as the only worker. Pacing and idling, he comes across like a caged animal in a zoo. The only things that change are color and light. As daytime fades, the sky through the window behind goes red, then deep blue, while the fluorescent lights in the ceiling are a phantasm of green. “City of Work: Office,’’ in the end, makes for a lovely tedium.
Stumbling on sure feet
David X. Levine was still installing his works on paper at Steven Zevitas Gallery, organizing several small colored-pencil drawings into an installation, when I came through late last week. But his big pieces were up and lighted. The show is called “Amy Winehouse,’’ and many of Levine’s works reference popular culture; he seems to be channeling the energy of particular figures. In the large works, these include the late Suzanne Pleshette, the whiskey-voiced actress who played Bob Newhart’s wife on “The Bob Newhart Show,’’ and beat poet John Wieners.
