Born to Be a Moody Think Piece

Sure, “The Atrocity Exhibition,” up at Thierry Goldberg Projects through July 28, may be the thematic Debbie Downer of summer shows — especially when compared to whimsical uppers like Smith Stewart’s exhibition “She Was Born to Be My Unicorn.” But dark and gloomy though they may be, the works (mostly large-scale paintings and small-ish sculptures of amorphous mushroom clouds) warrant a closer look. Iraqi-born, Yale-trained artist Ahmed Alsoudani is showing this enormous, intricate Guernica-esque abstraction, among others. Despite having fled Baghdad after the first Gulf War, Alsoundani can’t seem to shake disastrous images from home. He cleverly applies a Western aesthetic to a presumably Middle Eastern setting, creating a sadly universal theme. Look, think, discuss (war at home? War abroad?), and brace yourself for happy hour. —Rachel Wolff