Britney Paints

 I have only seen Neo Rauch's work twice in my life. I saw his show at The Drawing Center a few years ago and was blown away. It gave me a great feel for how he works. This weekend, I saw Rauch's solo show at Zwirner in Chelsea. I have heard opinions on Rauch from older painters I know, who say that his work feels tired, and he's been doing pretty much the same thing since the 80's. I also have heard the critique that the work is seen very differently by Germans. For example, someone who grew up in Germany in the late 20th century might see the work as using lowbrow aesthetic culture as a crutch. Rauch uses so much visual ephemera from Germany (e.g common German magazines, comic books, illustrations, and advertisements) the work feels similar to how someone young in America might feel about painting that draws from Anime or DeviantArt now.  I just want to preface my review with some other opinions I have heard, and acknowledge that this review is written by someone who

 The death of painting takes up enormous space in the history of 20th-century art. Obviously, the idea that painting as a practice will ever wholly die, is an absurd thought. But as a painter who has endured the past decade, which moved quickly from empty abstraction to repetitive and morally righteous figure painting, I have been anxiously and excitedly awaiting its death. And I couldn't be happier to report that it's death has finally arrived.  Personally, I've always been skeptical of the New Museum. In recent years it has been the home base for politically motivated art despite being regularly subjected to criticism for union-busting and paying its employees poverty wages. Putting its hollow intentions aside, I have often left their Triennials feeling depressed, weighed down by the heavy and unrelenting politics, which serve as a constant reminder that the viewer is failing to create a more equitable society and that the artists on display are more morally righteous tha