Detail from Ubu Roi (The War March), 2009. (Photos by C-M.)

Is it the end of the world? Or the beginning? In Hernan Bas’s latest canvases, now on show at Lehmann Maupin, it is difficult to tell. Survivors of flamboyant costume parties emerge from fantastical cities that seem to rise and crumble in roiling landscapes that make you think, ‘The party’s over.’ Or is it? Think German-style surrealism meets Futurist sculpture meets the sweaty oppression of the Everglades — all on very large canvases. (My photos don’t do it justice.) There’s a lot to look at, and the more you stare, the less you know what the hell is going on. Overall, a damn interesting show. 

The Dance of the Machine Gun and Other Forms of Unpopular Expression is up through July 10.

Click on images to supersize.

The full canvas: Ubu Roi (The War March).

Another detail from Ubu Roi.

The opening night crowd. The night’s fashions were a feast for the eyes, from sequined pants to man headbands to all those studiously-disheveled forward-combed hipster hairdos that make me thing ‘receding hairline.’

Paint on film. Shooting The Last Protestor at the Last Monument to the War, 2009.

The Dance of the Machine Gun, 2009.

Mystery Bouf (or the kingdom after the flood), 2009.

Detail from Mystery Bouf.

Colored plastic complex of noise + dance + joy, 2009…which makes me think I should have a contest in which people come up with baroque titles for Bas’s yet to be completed works.

This enthusiastic young art patron dove right into the after-party proceedings, festivities that involved pretzels, spaetzel and a cheery Teutonic waiter named Guenther.