"Art Gallery Shows to See in February" by Will Heinrich

Playing in the back room of Luhring Augustine, behind the camp maximalism of Yasumasa Morimura’s huge photo self-portraits, is a mesmerizing reel of Charles Atlas videos that he has titled “Anamneses,” or “remembrances.” Accounting for edits and adjustments, its eight pieces date from 1972 to the present.

Altogether the videos are infused with an astonishing amount of emotion, some of it coming from the anguished context of the AIDS crisis. They’re also about gender, photography, irony, performance and creative expression. When Kelly, singing to himself in the mirror, turns a momentary glance on the viewer, it’s as neat a metaphor as I can imagine for what it is to be a self-reflective human being. It’s also a powerful reminder that artifice can be as vital and authentic a way of moving in the world as any other, and that we can have critical distance from our emotions or situations even while fully inhabiting them. In that way, the work is as urgent, and as topical, as ever. 

Read full article at nytimes.com.