There is something about mimetic painting that can appeal to a variety of audiences, pleasing even the most jaded of viewers. Add something a bit gory and it’s even harder to turn away.

Cindy Wright, who is showing a series of new paintings at Ron Mandos, exploits our fascination with mimesis and decay. Her paintings appear photorealistic from even a relatively short distance, and it is not until you step right up to the works that the illusion unravels. This painterly trick, coupled with the memento mori she depicts, reminds us that things fall apart.

Though Wright applies the same painterly treatment to all her subjects, the effect is inconsistent. Her faces, reminiscent of cropped Chuck Close paintings, don’t stand up to her meatier works. Similarly underwhelming are some earthy close-ups of snow that resemble Vija Celmins wave drawings without the rewarding punch of their precision.

Wright excels, however, with her more gruesome and corporeal works, such as a still life of perfectly assembled road kill. As in her earlier paintings of constructed bacon forms, the realistic depiction of uncanny assemblage makes for captivating and seductive artwork. Even more enthralling are her fleshy close-ups likening abstracted guts and offal to pearls. These poignant and contemporary takes on 17^th century still life offer a gratifying, if somewhat macabre, exercise in looking.

--Andrea Alessi