Justin Beal’s first solo show at ACME gallery is sleek, minimal, excessively composed, and surprisingly guileless. Cast Pomegranate Juice bottles and stretch-wrapped plants could easily suggest a contrived attempt at cultural criticism, but in Beal’s work, the glass, stretch-wrap, and POM bottles instead suggest an endearing preoccupation with pretentious design and pop culture.

Art making involves brutal honesty. Lucky for most artists, the honesty doesn’t necessarily have to be conscious. Those ugly clichés—“actions speak louder than words” and “an image is worth a thousand words”—do carry a smidgen of truth.  Whether or not the artist intends it, viewers can usually discern sincerity just by looking.

Despite its heady homage to minimalist architecture and pop art, Beal’s work brims with sincerity. POM bottles, politicized Louis Vuitton ads, and indulgent references to Paul Rudolph’s architecture turn the gallery into a tailored space. The Master Bathroom at 23 Beekam Place from Below is a glass shelf, elevated 6 feet above the floor, with two POM bottles sitting atop it.  POM 5 (a mirror and enamel box with two cast POM bottles attached) lays flat on the floor, inviting us to look down after we’ve gazed up into the master bath. The work in the exhibition interacts together lyrically, even if correlations make little conceptual sense. It’s as if Beal has created his ideal apartment, inviting us into an environment in which pop, minimalism, high-handed architecture, and kitsch are all perfectly at peace with one another.

- Catherine Wagley

(*Images, from top to bottom:  Justin Beal, Melamine Everything, March 22 - April 19, 2008; Acme, POM 2: Violet Ice, 2008, aluminum, plywood, mirror and stretch-wrap; 24 x 18 x 2 in, Untitled, 2008, glass and aluminum screen with plaster, enamel and hardware; 60 x 76 x 60 in, The Master Bathroom at 23 Beekman Place from Below, Part I; 2008, glass and steel with pomegranate juice bottles, 24 x 36 x 72 in, Untitled, 2008, glass and aluminum screen with framed Plexiglas and lightjet print, 60 x 36 x 18 in, Courtesy of the artist and Acme, Los Angeles.  Justin Beal, Melamine Everything, March 22 - April 19, 2008; Acme, Vanity Fair, September 2007; 2008, framed Plexiglas and lightjet print, 24 x 18 in, The Master Bathroom at 23 Beekman Place from Below, Part II; 2008, glass and steel with pomegranate juice bottles, 38 x 36 x 24 in, POM 5: Vesica Picses, aluminum, plywood, mirror, plaster, enamel, hardware; 5 x 60 x 35 in, Courtesy of the artist and Acme, Los Angeles. Justin Beal, Melamine Everything, March 22 - April 19, 2008; Acme, POM 4: Vesica Pisces, 2008, aluminum, plywood, mirror, plaster, enamel hardware and stretch-wrap; 5 x 60 x 35 in, Courtesy of the artist and Acme, Los Angeles. Justin Beal, Melamine Everything, March 22 - April 19, 2008; Acme, Untitled, 2008, glass and aluminum screen with framed Plexiglas and lightjet print, 60 x 36 x 18 in, Melamine Everything, 2008, silkscreen on paper, 33 x 24 1/2 in, Seated in Her Kitchen Chair with a Pot of Geraniums Beside Her, 2008, concrete, steel, houseplants, stretch-wrap and hardware; 42 x 26 x 44 in, POM 1: Quadruplex, 2008, aluminum, plywood, mirror, plaster, enamel, hardware and stretch-wrap; 48 x 18 x 5 in, Courtesy of the artist and Acme, Los Angeles.)