Cate White Turns the Beat Around @ Small Works Projects, San Francisco

An over-the-top quality makes Cate White’s paintings endlessly entertaining and intriguingly ironic. Susan Sontag would have characterized this aesthetic sensibility as “camp.” But beyond the playful use of glitter, mica flakes, and plastic flowers lies a tenderness that can be profoundly moving. This is not an accident. It’s a perfect description of the artist herself. One need only watch a few minutes of her YouTube show How Do You Paint to get the charm.