A Provocative Exhibit Goes on Display

Last week, LA-based painter Kelly Reemtsen opened her new exhibit, “Smashing,” at the De Buck Gallery in Chelsea[1]. The subjects of her paintings are ominously flirtatious—in bright retro dresses and pumps, wielding household tools that remind us just how many uses a hose, a pair of shears, or a chainsaw can have. We don’t see the subjects’ faces as they climb ladders and grip axes, and this gives us pause to consider our own faces as we go about the many tasks in our lives in which we could wreak murderous havoc… should we so choose. The well-groomed women of “Smashing” may be smashing glass ceilings, or they may be smashing the windows of Lamborghinis.