Not Just Another Chelsea Gallery

While the opening of another gallery in Chelsea may not initially strike one as any more newsworthy than the opening of yet another Duane Read drugstore or Starbucks in midtown, it is unusual enough for an exhibition space to arrive on the scene with a ready-made roster of artists, each of whose work is individually distinctive yet indicative of a coherent communal vision. Such is the case with Monkdogz Urban Art, which opened amid much hoopla on March 11 at 547 West 27th Street and, on the strength of its inaugural exhibition, an international group show, promises to remain one of the more unpredictable stops in Chelsea.

Even more unexpected in context, the drawings of Lou Patrou provide a welcome note of lyricism amid all the clamor. Patrou engulfs human and anthropomorphic feline heads ala Saul Steinberg in vigorously applied rainbow hues that charge them with a dazzling visual electricity. Although conceived in pastels on paper, Patrou's images are reproduced as FujiFlex prints and mounted on wood behind clear plexiglass in a manner that both lends more heft as art objects and slightly “distances” the image, adding to its visionary numinousness.