In an old wallpaper factory in the West End of Leipzig, Germany is the collective gallery space Tapetenwerk Galerien. One of the contained galleries is display, a space directed by Galerie Emmanuel Post and Kunstraum Delikateessenhaus. Next week display will open the new exhibition “Unschuld in tausend Noten,” featuring watercolor paintings by Berlin-based artist Caro Suerkemper. The artist’s work often contains heightened sexual imagery, exploring the mechanics of seduction and submission while employing the female form. Formally, the paintings utilize geometric abstraction to reduce the subject and detach it from a greater context. Suerkemper studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste Karlsruhe from 1984-90 and since has exhibited internationally with shows at Galerie Haus Schneider, Ettlingen and Galerie Wallner in Malmo, Sweden.

Rocky Schenck, courtesy of M+B

Rocky Schenck’s first solo exhibition at M+B Gallery in Beverly Hills features eerie Los Angeles inspired photographs. Schenck’s highly composed and manipulated images evoke the haziness of blurred vision. His photographs of Hollywood interior and palm trees have the feeling of films stills that have been intentionally distorted, evidencing the interactions between his dual interests in film and still photography. A self-taught artist, Schenk withdrew from college as a young man in order to move from Texas to Los Angeles, where he hoped to become involved in the filmmaking world. His venture eventually paid off, as he now has a thriving career as an artist.

In addition to M+B Gallery, Schenck has also shown at Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago, Stephen Clark Gallery in Austin and Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta. His monograph, Rocky Schenck: Photographs was published by University of Texas Press in 2003. John Berendt, who wrote the foreword, is the novelist who authored The City of Falling Angels and Midnight in the Garden of Food and Evil: A Savannah Story. Schenck’s work has also been featured in Artweek, Aperture, and Art in America. This current show at M+B Gallery will continue through March 1st.

Daniel Richter’s current show at Regen Projects in Los Angeles couples expressionistic painting with pop-culture imagery. Loud colors and kinetic brushwork characterize Richter’s work and enhance the rockstar warfare that occurs when the subjects in his paintings clash with the vibrant surroundings. The show at Regen Projects also features a series of drawings that give a different picture of Richter’s practice. Less confrontational than the oil paintings, the drawings give a clearer glimpse into the loose narrative thinking that is part of Richter’s oeuvre.

Richter, who lives and works in Berlin, studied at Hochschule der Bildenden Kunste in Hamburg, Germany. He has shown at David Zwirner Gallery in New York, Contemporary Fine Art in Berlin, and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. A survey of his work, curated by the Denver Art Museum’s Modern and Contemporary Art curator Dr. Christopher Heinrich, recently graced the Hamburger Kunsthalle in Hamburg. Richter, who once worked as an assistant to famed painter and Sigmar Polke protege Albert Oehlen, has taught at the Akademie der Bildenen Kunste in Wien and at the Universitat der Kunste in Berlin. His show at Regen Projects runs through March 1st.

Rachel Mason’s solo show at Circus Gallery is certainly timely. The Candidate includes a slew of dumb-fisted charcoal, ink and pastel renderings of politicians. The drawings span the gallery walls and Mason has installed mock podiums around the space. Arms protrude from the podiums, grasping microphones and suggesting the podiums might double for politician’s bodies. Circus Gallery is appropriately taking advantage of The Candidate’s timeliness, hosting a February 2nd speech by candidate Mike Gravel and a February 5th viewing of the media’s primary coverage.

Rachel Mason received her MFA from Yale School of Art in 2004 and her BFA from University of California Los Angeles in 2001. It’s only taken her three years to become an internationally known artist and she showed or performed extensively in 2007, exhibiting at Newman-Popiashvili Gallery in New York and The Henry Art Gallery in Seattle among other venues. Mason’s projects tend to have an interactively political overtone, and she is currently maintaining a campaign journal that tracks the 2007/2008 primaries. Presented in a news-like page format, Mason’s journal is no where near as dry as it appears. Instead, she makes colorful, biting observations that call into question the behind-the-scenes aspect of politics. The Candidate runs through February 16th.

Currently showing at Penrith Regional Gallery and the Lewers Bequest, Emu Plains is an exploration of the supernatural in “The Visitors: The Australian Response to UFOs and Aliens“. Showcasing the work of 15 different artists, the display incorporates various mediums including painting, installation, sculpture and light work. Catering to UFO enthusiasts, the exhibition additionally features an “evidence room” complete with detailed case files of those who claim to have come face to face with extraterrestrial beings. The catalogue essay was written by Bill Chalker, a prominent UFO researcher who has written numerous publications on the topic, including his most recent “Hair of the Alien: DNA and other Forensic Evidence for Alien Abductions“.

Indigenous Australian, Tony Albert is one of the artists included within the exhibition. Several of his featured works deal with the alien as a symbol for the displacement often felt by the Indigenous community. Luke Roberts dressed as his sci-fi alter ego Pope Alice Xorporation also features within the exhibition. Roberts created Pope Alice a few years ago as a rebellious response to what he views as the “orthodoxy of Australian modernism.” Other artists which feature within the exhibition include Claire Conroy, Simon Champ, Adam Norton and collaborative duo Soda Jerk.

Kicking off this February at the Australian Centre for Photography Paddington, will be the exhibition “William Yang: Claiming China“. Held in conjunction with the City of Sydney’s Chinese New Year Festival and the 2008 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, the display celebrates the work of acclaimed Chinese-Australian artist William Yang. While open about his homosexuality, Yang’s work often controversially touches on issues regarding both his heritage and sexual preference. Within this exhibition Yang’s photos explore his forced assimilation into Australian culture and the repossession of his Chinese background.

Yang was born in Queensland as a third generation Australian. He is a multitalented individual, having worked as a playwright, a photographer and performance artist. He has been awarded several prizes including the 1993 International Photographer of the Year Award at The Higashigawacho International Photographic Festival, Japan as well as numerous awards, nominations and special mentions for his poignant documentary “Sadness“. He earned a Bachelor of Arts – Architecture and an Honorary Doctorate of Letters both from the University of Queensland, and has widely exhibited both locally and internationally at institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Torch Gallery, Amsterdam and the San Diego Museum of Art.

“I’m The Most Normal Person I Know” is the title of a new exhibition featuring the photographs of Los Angeles-based artist Chris Anthony. This exhibition, which is on view at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, is the second solo show for the artist and the gallery. For the show, Anthony created a series of images that are based on childhood dreams and manifest into surreal narratives and haunting portraits. The images are created from a variety of materials including cheesecloth, paper mache, velvet, doll parts, mannequins and worn down clothes. The artist was awarded this year’s Grand Prize in American Photo‘s Images the Year Competition. Anthony was born and raised in Stockholm and has exhibited internationally in Los Angeles, Stockholm and San Francisco.