Current paintings

“Art in Review”

THE NEW YORK TIMES FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2002 Alan Peckolick 473 Broadway Gallery 473 Broadway, near Broome Street, SoHo Through March 30 The faded, weathered old advertisements that sometimes reveal themselves when buildings are razed or renovated have long fascinated Alan Peckolick, a graphic designer who dotes on the embellished letters and ornate designs they contain. He paints the signs as they appear on the walls, ravaged by time and often partly erased by grit, bird droppings and other city accumulations. In "Griffon on Seventh," Griffo appears in a bold white script, with the partial word "shea" below it and a pair of wide-open scissors cutting into the space of the lettering. A whitish crud drips down over the whole. Occasionally Mr. Peckolick paints windows with figures in them adjacent to the signs; in "The Astor Catch," a man leans out to catch a ball near a vertical sign that reads Astor in Art Deco lettering. Signage has been covered so often by photography that as a subject it is commonplace, but Mr. Peckolick, good at the colors and textures of erosion, nicely captures the sense of time past that gives these brief messages their nostalgic appeal.