The confounding title of this group show, “The Story of O(OO),” combines references to Pauline Réage’s notorious 1954 S&M novel Histoire d’O and object-oriented ontology, the anti-humanistic philosophical school currently the object of much art-world fascination. This mash-up may be something of a red herring, though, because the vibe here feels less intelligent-sexy than Sci-Fi-mystical. It’s also pretty dark. Alex Mackin Dolan’s cardboard figure holds what looks like a videotape version of the Necronomicon. Jared Madere’s installation includes a hippified wicker man (or woman) sitting on a plastic chair and resembles the leftovers of some freaky ritual you might stumble across in the woods. The gallery has dug impressively deep to include Paul Laffoley’s hard-edge mandala painting “Homage to Black Star of Perfection” (1965) as well as a 1995 painting by Lynn Randolph—known to a generation of grad students for the illustrations accompanying the book by Donna Haraway that includes “A Cyborg Manifesto”—depicting a woman whose blood is being drained by medicalized vampires.
Pictured: Installation view of Jared Madere’s Untitled, 2015; at David Lewis. Photo Adam Reich. Courtesy David Lewis, New York.