David Carrier reviews a recent show of works by Doron Langberg and Gaby Collins-Fernandez at at Danese/Corey, New York.

Carrier writes: "A little suspicious of the intrinsic power of visual images, Collins-Fernandez … turns to words, gathered from overheard city conversations, and fabrics, materials that have a very different visual identity… Her materials, she rightly says, 'produce a density of emotion and meaning which I am interested in reproducing in my paintings.' Here of course she joins a long tradition of art drawing upon the contemporary urban environment. Langberg, on the other hand, wants that his paintings be presentations of visual desire. Not just of his personal desires—rather, 'I want my work to speak of things we all share such as friendship, intimacy, and pleasure.' In setting up this opposition between Langberg and Collins-Fernandez, however, I do not mean to underestimate their common concerns. When Collins-Fernandez says, 'you put a lot of yourself out there to see what will stick,' I believe that she speaks for both of them."