Beyond Boundaries: New York's New Art

A sampler of works by 56 artists, this oversized portfolio shows that the New York art scene is far more diversified than one might assume. Some artists are exploring the impact of technology: for example, R. M. Fischer builds futuristic metallic contraptions that seem to have a definite function. Other artists adapt surrealist themes: Barbara Kruger jolts the viewer with dadaist splicings of words and images, while Robert Guber's plastic sinks mysteriously emerge out of room corners. In Carrol Dunham's explosively colorful paintings, neoexpressionism, surrealist automatism and the sexual imagery of underground comics co-exist. Photo-based works mimic installation art as well as hyperrealism. Painter Ross Bleckner evokes a spectral, beautiful netherworld, all black, white and silver. Jon Kessler's ""plastic fantastics''luminescent constructions whose interiors pulsate with lights and motorsdefy description. What all these works have in common, according to one essay included here, is that ``technique and process are . . . deliberately and thoroughly developed aspects of meaning itself.'' Saltz co-edited Sketchbook with Voices. (February 16)