At Metro Pictures, the Painter B. Wurtz Studies B. Wurtz, Sculptor

THE DAILY PIC (#1502): I always think of Bill (aka “B.”) Wurtz as an intuitive artist, turning his life’s flotsam and jetsam into whimsical assemblages. So it came as a surprise to see that his latest show, at Metro Pictures’ Lower East Side space, was full of late-eighties pieces that were rigorously planned and systematically executed. For each one, Wurtz first made a pared-down found-object sculpture and then painted its details from top and side views, like an archaeologist recording a find. There’s still whimsy in the work, but the rigor of the execution is a nice foil to it. It feels as though Wurtz, the systematic painter, is analyzing the intuitions of Wurtz, the spontaneous sculptor.

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