Quinn vs. Quinn: “Second City Psychasthenia” at Andrea Meislin

Welcome to Quinn vs. Quinn, your review source for arts, culture, and whatever else we both deem acceptable to bring to your attention! Penned by Erica (Quinn) and (Quinn) Daly. 

Today we review the current offering at Andrea Meislin Gallery— “Second City Psychasthenia”. We went to see Hump Day Q&A alum Steve Daly’s large-scale photographs, but found far more treasures within. 

EQ: I just thought this show was clean, and beautifully curated. Really glad Steve’s ‘loudest’ work was up front, which drew you in and let you pause on his quieter “Moth on Fake Marble Tile Rendered in Halftone”, to the right. We went there to see his work, but the rest did not disappoint in the least.

QD: Absolutely not! I had a great time at this show. The ambush photography to the left was pretty excellent. Of course, I’m biased towards Steve’s stuff, because he’s my cousin, but the show on the whole was super tasty.

EQ: The ambush photos, yes! I was especially drawn to those, the portraits of people riding escalators by (my new huge girl crush), Anna Shteynshleyger. The people are isolated, eerie, and are all making the same facial expression….one of those “WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT UGHGHHGHGGH” moments. 

QD: I also really liked Steve’s architectural-style photography - he made great use of color. Again, I’m biased, but us Dalys really seem to have an eye for composition. 

EQ: Yeah, that large negative kicks ass. I loved this show! Sometimes group shows are like “meh” but this one was like “yeah”! I will give it my thumb(s). 

QD: Agreed. I liked everything but the sculpture [by Kristin Nason], which I thought was kind of lame. The video installation about the sculpture was cool, though, so I give this a big old thumb up. Two thumbs up from two Quinns! So, four thumbs? We really need to come up with a metric for this. 

QvQ gives “Second City Psychasthenia” all the thumbs. The show closes this week at Andrea Meislin Gallery so go— there’s no time like the present.