I was at an opening Thursday night of Andrea Lehman and Johannes Huppi at Kravets|Wehby Gallery in Chelsea.

“Mein erster Fall beim FBI,” 2007, Oil on canvas diptych, 102 x 150″

Spoke a to Andrea Lehmann and her sister for a couple of minutes to try to understand this large painting - which had a lot of good stuff in it - lots of symbolism - though I’d have preferred a little more finish in certain parts - but overall, it was well done.

It seems the big crab like creature at the center of the painting is a giant dust mite and the 7 figures - to my mind, identical (if I’ve counted right) match the arms, tentacles on the dust mite. Andrea’s boyfriend is on the left, looking in and the whole picture is painted from a tilted view. Andrea is having fun by thinking of herself as and FBI Agent interrogating a large dust mite… who makes absolutely no sense to me … much as Surrealist artists would do similar types of juxtapositions.

A lot of local color is added by the phone in the lower right, the Lie Detector in the foreground and some numeric symbolism. What does it all mean? I don’t know. I don’t like putting actually mustaches on some of the figures, actual hair, or fake hair, and that’s what Andrea did. But overall, it’s a nice painting and I like talking to Artists who come here to show (i.e.: Andrea Lehmann is from Germany and visiting).

The other guy, Johannes Huppi is Swiss, and I liked his nudes, which reminded me of Modigliani - though, again, there was symbolism that did not seem to entirely work for me.

According to the Kravets|Wehby press release for this show:

Andrea Lehmann
Johannes Hüppi

The Kravets/Wehby Gallery is pleased to announce a two-person exhibition of new work by Johannes Hüppi and Andrea Lehmann. The exhibition opens Thursday October 25, with a reception from 6-8 pm and runs through December 8, 2007.

Inner turmoil spills from the canvas in the work of Andrea Lehmann and Johannes Hüppi. Hüppi creates intimate portraits of haunted women utilizing a painterly approach and smaller scale. Naïveté ensues amongst suspiciously saccharine women despite intermittent hauntings of nightmarish beasts and beheaded figures.

Both artists explore the sinister thoughts that loom in the periphery of creative unconscious, but where Hüppi is subtle Lehmann screams intensity. Her expansive vistas of painted terror are madness writ large. Lehmann counters the somber and contemplative nightmares of Hüppi with wily hordes of women and incessant chatter.

Hüppi and Lehmann thoroughly explore the dark side of reverie and the myths surrounding. Romantic, or not, both leave the viewer with a delectable feast for the senses.

I guess both of these artists are maturing and maybe, pushing a little too hard - but both promising as painters though I doubt either would become well known for the work I saw Thursday night.