Summary
Inside their empty bodies, the menagerie can accommodate batteries, so when they're all turned on, they collide, emitting animal sounds. According to Lynn's artist statement, this is a good thing: "When the animals are set into motion, they interact with each other, in seemingly intelligent ways." Viewers, she adds, are supposed to "continue her/his journey more aware and delighted in being a body." Since neither Lynn nor the gallery provide batteries, the creatures remain mute and still. Seek heightened awareness and delight elsewhere.
Ithaca's Tim Merrick shows assorted objects from his recent project, "Games and Traps." Using a computer to scan, compose and color images, he produced three large ball games evoking childhood toys. In "The Minotaur," "Two Mice" and "The Trojan Horse," players must juggle small steel balls into holes. The goal is to drop the red ball into designated spots. No cuddly creatures here, and the framed wooden games are fun but heavy.Merrick's "Decoy" features two sets of colorful wooden birds dangling from metal hooks attached to wood cornices. Nearby hangs "The Family Template," three wooden silhouettes: a father, mother and boy. Merrick's 12 white-painted, 2-by-3-foot boards, which comprise "Chalk Board," lean against walls. Some contain a painting on one side, an aphorism on the other. One advises, "Be always employed in something useful," with the reverse side showing three bonneted girls wearing long dresses jumping rope. On the floor is a colorful board game with plywood spinner. When the arrow stops, it points to a house, coins and bills, stars or, ominously, to pills and a hypodermic needle.See the full content of this document
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Retro Active
Kirkland Art Center's current show Play Things contains familiar childhood toys and games: stuffed animals, chalkboards, steel ball puzzles, a spinning game, coloring-book pages. Yet the four exhibiting artists, working in various media, transform these famil...
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