Julia Wachtel, “Empowerment”

The 1980s East Village gallery scene, which came and went within an eight-year span, was originally characterized by graffiti art and a kind of punk version of Neo-Expressionism. But by the middle of the decade, the cooler appropriationist tactics pioneered by the Pictures Generation found a second wind in some of the area's funky spaces. Julia Wachtel’s work is a good example: Her paintings put an outré kitschy spin on the Pictures formula years before Jeff Koons did likewise. This is her first solo show in New York since 1993, and her latest work remains remarkably consistent with her early efforts, with the same juxtaposition of lowbrow cartoons and references to current events and high culture, all contained within friezelike, multipanel compositions.