Fleisher Challenge Show

There's about one week left to see the latest Fleisher Challenge Show.  I stopped by on Friday and was glad I did.  First up, Alana Bograd's paintings are exciting, both in color and mark making.  Sometimes they seem a little gross.  Are those the muscles on the face or is it melting or just a psychedelic trip?  Either way one gets the impression of something gooey or messy, something that I personally don't want to get on me.   When the figure is absent the works are less disturbing but then you can really get in and enjoy the paint.  I love her paint.  It's colorful and aggressive.  At times it flows easily from the brush and other times it seems tortured into piles.

Alana Bograd

Alana Bograd, Vanitas Jinx

Walking from Bograd's show into the next room one enters a dark space in which the sound of breathing catches your attention.  The breathing is coming from Jennie Thwing's small framed video piece on the front wall.  An image of a (dead?) bird pulsates with the breath.  A large video, titled "Buried but Breathing" occupies the large wall opposite the bird piece.  The animated work- nails, string, firewood, clamps, etc- are punctuated by several human appearances.  The narrative is engaging and nostalgic.  At least I was reminded of early hours in front of television watching the herky-jerky stop action videos on various PBS children's shows.  This video, with it's strange hooded figure and suggestions of violence (particularly against fruit) is not one of those, but I can't help loving watching pieces of firewood make their own way into the stove and twine wrap itself around nails.  It seems like a celebration of everyday overlooked tools and the motions of life.

Jennie Thwing, Buried but Breathing (my photo from her video projection so not quite a "still")

Sarah Steinwach's cut works occupy the third gallery.  The delicate cut mylar, tyvek, and paper are sandwiched into sturdy plexiglass containers.  The lines might be delicate but these containers are serious structures.  I particularly loved this piece with it's fine black lines. 

Sarah Steinwachs

Sarah Steinwachs, detail