There are giggles at the Gagosian Gallery. It’s the first Saturday since the opening of Richard Phillips’ new self-titled show, and it’s crowded. From the center of the main room, every 11-foot-tall painting of vamping Lindsay Lohan and reclining Adriana Lima looks as if a visitor is lodged in a gigantic cleavage or pressed against a massive reclining silhouette. They’re “lush” alright.

Is it art? These are very technically proficient paintings. They look like advertisements. It’s one thing to scoff at a JPG of water-soaked, white-bikini’ed tabloid princess and quite another to be confronted with a gigantic, immaculately hyperrealistic painting. To the backdrop of tranquil aqua water, Lindsay’s irises are as big as your fists and they’re quivering with a familiar mania. Naturally, if you think the whole affair of painting pop culture icons is silly and contrived, you will scoff at this too, just as you would at another “Lindsay Gone Wild” tabloid headline, no matter how theatrically tragic, but let’s play along. … Read More