Haunch of Venison

I went to a very interesting art opening at a super swanky gallery tonight, high above midtown, called Haunch of Venison that a friend of ours is associate director of. The show is called 'The Figure and Dr Freud' and is actually pretty interesting. There's definitely something for everyone here. They have works by 31 artists, spanning this past century. So, there's people from the canon like Picasso, Giacometti, Chuck Close, Maplethorpe, Arbus, etc. as well as newer folks like Patricia Piccinini (I love her work) and Robert Lazzarini (this is the same 'skull' photographed from two different angles) and Richard Butler. Butler has two works, one of which I'm showing below. It's quite traditional in composition, but actually totally tweaked and interesting. The photo below really doesn't do it justice at all, so check it out in person. Well, the piece really interested me and I was trying to figure out what I knew of this artist when suddenly I see Psychedelic Furs frontman, Richard Butler walk by and I realize 'oh that Richard Butler.' At any rate, I got to talking with him and he's quite nice and definitely a talented painter.There are a number of other good pieces that are worth seeing, so if you're around between now and August 22, be sure to check it out:
Haunch of Venison New york, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, 20th Floor. 212-259-0000