Elizabeth Neel’s Humpndump takes dogs and their dirty deeds as a departure point into a critique of abstract painting. Rendered in uncomfortably luscious fleshy and scatological tones, overlaid with faint illustrations of canine love, Neel takes an absurdist’s stab at the sexual history of abstraction – from Cubism’s dehumanized representations of women to Cecily Brown’s sumptuously expressionistic porn. Construing painting itself as carnal abandon, Neel approaches the canvas with gusto: layering organic washes, rosy hued puddles, voracious impastos, and telling drippy white spills, creating a work that is as funny as it is satiatingly beautiful.
