Best Artist

A few years ago at a gallery opening for Lynus Young at the Telephone Booth, one viewer commented that his work looked like vomit on canvas. Intended as a compliment, this observation gets to the heart of why Young is such a great artist. His work isn't always very good (i.e., the bathtub video in the spring's Kansas City Flatfiles show). He doesn't seem afraid to take chances. His art, which, in addition to the Flatfiles show, has turned up at the Gallery at Village Shalom, the Jan Weiner Gallery and Shaw Hofstra and Associates, seems to be evolving constantly. His installations of dozens of small drawings and spray paintings on paper imply an unsettling feeling of moving and growing, and Young's childlike, organic style always seems to be changing slightly. Several artists in town whose styles seem to remain static could stand to learn from Young's example.