Ex-Dior designer Hedi Slimane's curatorial debut at Arndt & Partner, Sweet Bird of Youth features fashionable artists including Ryan McGinley, Dash Snow, and Matt Saunders, among others. Lust, insurrection, and glamour recur in black, white, neon, and mirrors, but the works' minimalist presentation communicates restraint. William Cordova's stacks of newspapers featuring photos of bound prisoners stand in the entry, and Slimane's glittering 17-meter carpet extends through the main space. The curator also contributed the exhibition's title piece, a simple black structure that supports the phrase "Sweet Bird of Youth" in white neon letters softly glowing across its length. Clippings of male sex symbols hang limply from the sign's electric cord, and innocence is long lost.

-CR