Tristram Lansdowne at Luis De Jesus

In many of the works in Tristram Lansdowne’s exhibition, Burrito Planet, it seems gravity has taken a day off. In his watercolor works, landscapes stretch and warp around all four edges of the paper, becoming framing devices for the objects he depicts within — in one, a Western landscape takes a swift 90-degree turn, and is sent careening vertically down the edges of the drawing. Within these uncanny framing devices, Lansdowne plays cheeky trompe l’oeil games employing Magritte-style compositions. Some turn to classic art historical subjects (food, flora, figures): in one drawing, a dippy egg sits on a green window ledge, cracked open, yolk dripping down its ceramic holder; in another a bare buttocks takes central stage, hemmed in by lush landscape.

Other compositions collect a surprising range of objects, catapulting these works out of art history, and into contemporary consumerism. Bic razors sit next to floral arrangements; massage chairs float above a desert landscape. Two luxe subway-tiled showers flow with water within a fuzzy animal-print border — a modern-day redux of a romantic waterfall landscape. Other inclusions — UFOs, slugs, and that little animation that plays out when you win a game of computer solitaire — complicate these tableaux. Rather than a simple narrative of historic v. modern-day references, Lansdowne’s dream-like compositions keep you hunting for meaning, surreal depositories of cultural knowledge.

Photo: Tristram Lansdowne at Luis De Jesus (installation view). Image courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus.