As I sit in my warm apartment typing this post, the bleak cold of New York in January dominates the outside world. All I want is for me to be laying on the beach somewhere in the warm sunlight ready to dip in the ocean for a short swim. Since that's not going to happen, I've decided instead to head to LIC to check out Swimming Pool by Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich.

Erlich has constructed a full-size pool, complete with all its trappings, including a deck and a ladder. When approached from the first floor, visitors are confronted with a surreal scene: people, fully clothed, can be seen standing, walking, and breathing beneath the surface of the water. It is only when visitors enter the Duplex gallery from the basement that they recognize that the pool is empty, its construction a visual trick fashioned by the artist. A large, continuous piece of acrylic spans the pool and suspends water above it, creating the illusion of a standard swimming pool that is both disorienting and humorous.

Not quite South Beach, but I'll take what I can get at this point and the installation looks and sounds hot. Read more about it here.

The show is up through 05.04.09.

Opening 02.19.09, the films of Kenneth Anger. One of the most influential American avant-garde filmmakers, Kenneth Anger has been making motion pictures since 1947. This will be his first major survey at a U.S. museum in more than a decade. Anger's films constitute a radical critique of Hollywood production: they bring to light a very different approach to collective dreams, myths, and desire. Read more here. No details yet on what films will show. I'll keep you updated.

If you're unfamiliar with Anger, check out his Wiki, the official Kenneth Anger website, and Lucifer Rising, one of his videos from 1973.

Swimming Pool
Leandro Erlich
Now through 05.04.09

Kenneth Anger
02.22 - 09.14.09