Franklin Einspruch

The Village of Merrick Park, a credulity-straining vision of conspicuous consumption, probably deserves an art review itself. Imagine a Bosch scene of heaven that's been run through an MBA program. Art+ Gallery lies secreted within its confines, and it is showing an artist who wouldn't look out of place in the pages of Juxtapoz. Jama, a self-taught painter who arrived here from Cuba a year ago, employs a thickly painted line to depict himself and his family. Figures come out as if rendered by aboriginal Australians who were high on drugs and trying to draw aliens. It sometimes works, most of all when the artist can manage a controlled burn instead of a combustion.