CRITIC'S PICKS
Remember that seventh-grade biology cheek-cell experiment? Ross Bleckner does it better and with more style in his new suite of five large-scale paintings opening at Lehmann maupin this Saturday. In these pieces, Bleckner - known for his poetic abstractions memorializing those lost to the AIDS epidemic - combines various styles and themes that he's used for the past 15 years (think a fusion of the stripe, flower and examined-life paintings). Cells with iridescent halos, like those seen in Bleckner's Tolerance, 1998, pictured above, mark the beginning of new life in this artist's work.