Ryan Humphrey [various titles] 2005-2006 acrylic on canvas, dimensions vary [three detailed views of installation]

Ryan Humphrey pulls out all the stops every time he does an installation, including near-arrest scenarios [think of selling guns on the street, even terrifically-fake guns, and even if you're an artist, should you happen to be peddling your stuff near an insecure gallerist].

I like his style, but I always stay for the execution and the intelligence of his work. Humphrey's art has never lacked targets, but this time he created real, target-practice targets. Then he went and labelled each one, referencing, according to the press release, "adverse events with individuals, the pettiness of the 'art world' and engagement with larger entities." He completed his project by pulling them out of the studio and shooting them.

Humphrey's show has been beautifully installed at DCKT Contemporary on West 24th Street. There's a larger variety of work to be seen in the gallery than what I'm showing here - more than just the targets. I think I just got totally distracted by the beauty of these injured objects.

A sampling from the 150 or so titles:

Patriotic treason
Sliding scale of ethics
Any reference to impressionist painting
Soft-handed architect
SUV stroller steamroller
Numbing effects of nothing newcasts
Urban hillbilly
A place so nice they named it twice
Trust fund failure
Sweatpants and work boots
Strip malls and box stores
Town car disservice
Yoko Ono
Take what you can and leave the weak behind
Prosthetic charisma
Glossy pages of nothingness
911 Weiss (bubba bear)
Music so thin that it is difficult to hear
Vampire diner
Mediocre meteoric rise
Icky, jazzy, sticky, uck.
Diamonds
Extinguished flame
Worse to be exposed as a failure than to be one
Hoser poser
Transcendent lameness
Strengthened grasp of undertow
Pain enhancer habits
Battered brother
Humble beginnings that last forever