NEWCITY June 12, 2008 Packer/Schopf Gallery 942 W. Lake (312.226.8984) DOMINIC PAUL MOORE, "You're Gonna Love it Here," multimedia. Though nor- mally operating behind the scenes at Packer Schopf Gallery, Dominic Paul Moore has moved into the lime- light with his newest collection of paintings and draw- ings, "You're Gonna Love it Here." The assortment of gouache and graphite drawings, pulled from vintage medical guides, are striking in their honesty, ranging in size and jumbled together in an eclectic collage of images. In their whittled simplicity, Moore's graphite renderings feature a sinister, cynical feel, suggesting our safe havens are rarely as benign as we presume. In "Shhhhhhh, It's Ok," a medic looms over an uncon- scious woman who, in her docility, implies a certain level of victimization, leaving one to wonder whether it was the man by her side or some other exterior force which brought her to this point. In a peculiar turn, Moore juxtaposes the medical drawings with replica- tions of old Boys Life magazine ads and MySpace
pages. The ads, though remarkable in their technical execution, are more spiteful than cynical, made even more so with callow titles such as "We Are The Whities The Mighty Mighty Whities." The Web pages, though as gaudy as the real thing, make up what they lack in aesthetic appeal through theory, pulled together by Moore's interrogation of space, both social and person- al. Such disparate images can be irritating at first, but Moore's concept is impressive, inviting a peek into the artist's world - and demanding a reevaluation of one's own. (Jaime Calder) Through June 21
