Huffington Post

by Peter Frank

Marc Dennis, dependably, puts his slick and exacting hyper-realist technique and ever-more naturalistic pictorial thinking to disturbing, perhaps politically incorrect purpose. His still lifes, seen from above, document an opulent and dangerous lifestyle, strewing jewels and keys and drinks and desserts – what bedecks dressers after a night on the town – with more sinister items, in particular guns of various sizes. Whoever’s having  fun just out of visual range isn't taking any chances (except, perhaps, in the bedroom itself). These still lifes write their own rather cinematic narratives, even as they allow us the pleasure of casting them. Dennis provides us greater depth of field in his renditions of well-stocked meat lockers, but – no less decadent in this context – these noir settings inspire less fleshy fantasy. Anxiety has a way of suppressing hunger; while the (un) dresser pictures promise a real debauch despite – or perhaps because – of the guns presence, the meat pictures imply less feast than death. (Hasted Kraeutler, 537 W. 24th St., NY; closed. www.hhastedkraeutler.com)