Georganne Deen in New York

NEW YORK—Despite an impressive list of solo exhibitions around the world and having her work included in many noteworthy private collections, Georganne Deen remains one of the most underrated and under-the-radar painters in contemporary art. Her work begs comparison with that of painter, cartoonist, and fellow Texas native Gary Panter: They are both pioneers who excel at destroying the boundaries between painting, illustration, comics, and music. Deen’s work teeters between high and low, using striking imagery and ornamental decoration to create trippy storybook visions with a feminine twist. Her music, which streams on her website Western Witch, is haunting and humble, sometimes soothing, and highly effective in its dreamy storytelling.

In her solo exhibition “The Love That Has No Opposite” at Smith-Stewart on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Deen tackles the subject of cosmic consciousness, a state of bliss in which there is no separation between body and mind. She does this with paintings depicting the interactions of women with a sloth, an ape, and one blazing stallion. Deen confides that painting special relationships between women and animals had a calming effect on her. In the oil on linen A Spin in the Teacups (Is A Must) (2008), an ape and a blonde maiden share a passionate kiss inside a teacup. Words spelling out the title are used as decorative elements, and delicate floral patterns line the edges of the painting. Similarly, The Curious Appetite That Eats You (2008), an acrylic on paper that shows a naked woman being hand-fed by a meerkat, features several detailed mark-making techniques. The coated paper seems to resist the paint, creating swirling patterns that hover on the surface like oil on water. Deen’s lovingly painted, highly personal tableaux are sure to win you over.

Here are five exhibitions Deen recommends in New York:

1. Gustave Courbet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, through May 18

“Gustave Courbet at the Met has already been mentioned in this column, but it can’t be mentioned enough to suit me for five reasons: The Desperate Man, The White Calf, The Origin of the World, The Brook of The Puits-Noir, and my favorite painting from Musee des Beaux-Arts, Marseille, The Stag (variously titled, for some unknown reason). If you haven’t had a chance to stare at The Origins of the World but have always longed to do so, this is your chance. You’ll never get any closer to it, as they sort of partitioned it off like a peep show. I broke out in a sweat, and that’s all I care to say about it.

“Note: This exhibition doesn’t go well with everything. Like, don’t go see him before you go to the Whitney Biennial.”

2. The Cloisters, ongoing

“When you walk into the dark room full of the Unicorn Tapestries and begin to focus on the tragic scenarios that are hidden from light and time, you wonder how they can be so elegant and so vile at once. But the contradictory nature of things can be very satisfying sometimes. I love art that’s so magnificently created that it leaves me befuddled and cranky and feeling worthless, yet overjoyed and high and happy. And it’s hard to imagine how anyone could have figured out how to make such rich detail with such economy. If you like noses, as I do, go for a cornucopia of those. The dogs are as darling as they are disgusting. Ditto the masters debating the finer points of sadism in some of the chicest caps I’ve ever seen. And how about those bug eyes on the finely attired, gossip-mongering folk women? Who did the artists think they were trashing? I love to think about the places these have been. There’s an empty field in France next to the other half of the cloisters. Apparently the locals are still pissed. There are too many reasons to go to the Cloisters, but if you ever feel the need to experience true works of art, this is the place.

“Note: This is a good exhibition to mix with Courbet, if you’re not driving.”

3. Kim Gordon: Come Across at KS Art, through April 9 

“Kim Gordon’s paintings are whispery mysteries like her voice. She has a large selection of gorgeous, woozy watercolors on rice paper, which are vague impressions of what the audience looks like to her with strobe lights passing over them. The works have an abstract flashback quality to them. Very good with absinthe chocolates (I hear).”

4. Gary Panter: Daydream Trap at the Aldrich Museum, in Ridgefield, Conn., through August 31, and Pictures from the Psychedelic Swamp: 1972–2001 at Clementine Gallery, April 4 to May 10

“Go see Gary Panter’s comix at the Aldrich. The imagery, story line, and execution are his greatest treasure trove. He knows the world inside and out and will remind you that you do, too. In the ’80s, he was called the godfather of punk comics. Nowadays he seems to be the Holy Ghost of it. There is another opening for him April 4th at Clementine. This one’s a retrospective of his works that are for sale, no less: a glorious opportunity, to put it mildly. Go early or dress for the mosh pit. Great with all hi-carb beverages.”

5. Angelo Filomeno: Betrayed Witches at Galerie Lelong, through April 12

“I’m not going to lie to you: I didn’t see this. I was too late to get in. It looked like a hand-blown glass skeleton lying on a mirror with some silvery, shivering shrouds, exquisitely embroidered with insects, skulls, crystal tears, and other things more Ming than Goth. The press release mentions feces, too. You go and tell me what it is. We’re gonna get to the bottom of this. It looks like an amazement park for the dead. I think he may have put the fun back in funerary.

“If I may just say one more thing: when you do go to an opening, please try to think of something to say to the artist besides “congratulations!!!” I don’t know what happened to that word, but it’s been bankrupt since Reagan. When you exhibit in the south or San Francisco or Italy or someplace where attending an opening is more than a marketing strategy, strangers of all ages will come up to you with the most interesting comments, compliments, and observations about what you have been slaving on for so long. It is the height of humanity to give one’s full attention to another creature. Whatever you do, don’t go up and ask them how they know so-and-so, or is there any more beer, or how did they get that effect, or where they’re going afterwards. It’ll turn you into an instant bore. This is public service announcement.”