Blood-red paint gushes, splashes and drips in the new Barnaby Furnas paintings at Marianne Boesky gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea district. “If Wishes Were Fishes” has a feverish energy, down to the paint-smeared fingerprints on the canvases. The New York-based Furnas feeds off historical and religious imagery -- bleeding whales, seagulls in flight and ax- wielding men in top hats. The scenes allude to “Moby-Dick” and the Bible’s Jonah while incorporating elements of the artist’s earlier series, including his flood paintings and historic battles. Particularly effective are “The Whalers,” a 12-by-16-foot whale-slaughter scene, and “Jonah in the Belly of the Whale,” depicting the prophet as a...
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