"Folk Devil"

Curated by the elaborately named Rodolphe von Hofmannsthal (Zwirner's associate director and the former proprietor of London's Dicksmith Gallery), "Folk Devil" takes its title from Stanley Cohen, a professor of sociology at the London School of Economics whose 1972 study, Folk Devils and Moral Panics, delved into the negative public and media reaction to the mods and rockers of the 1960s. His conclusion was that although the bonds between members of a subculture are artificial, they become reinforced—and thus genuine—when subjected to outside pressure. This point is meant to underscore Von Hofmannsthal's organizing principle: that most summer-group-show themes are totally made up. Bingo! In any case, the art here is mostly, though not exclusively, Anglocentric, with works by numerous Brits, including Lynn Chadwick, Spartacus Chetwynd and Mike Nelson.