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I like to think about sculpture as a type of narrative theater. It uses the pedestal or the gallery space as a stage and presents itself as a possible reality. As the viewers, we suspend our disbelief like we would in the movies, and the work shows us a new world. In Terms of Use at Gallery Four, Colin Benjamin develops his a cast of almost-familiar objects. “Extended Wrap Up 1″ looks like a mop, except the handle is about twelve feet long and the thrums are bound around the head of the mop, cocoon-wise. It looks like the mops we know, but I doubt it could function as one. It speaks of dubious identity, the way in which some thing or person can be near identifiable but lacks the key component to actually succeed in being that thing or that person. Perhaps that failure is one of language, a gap between the words we use and the reality they fail to sufficiently describe. Or perhaps it’s a failure on the part of the mop– it’s defective, a reject.

In his “Broom Broom” series, he combines parts of brooms to create different scenarios. In one, a single push-broom head has two opposing handles, as if two people might try to push it in two opposite directions at once. In another, a single handle has a push-broom head at each end. These are simple objects, complicated so that they no longer make sense. These pieces are executed so cleanly that we can almost believe (and we’re suspending disbelief, remember!) that they were manufactured that way. What’s more, unlike the mop that leans against the wall, like mops naturally do, these brooms are poised upright, away from the wall– they are standing in the room with you.

In addition to Terms of Use at Gallery Four, two other shows opened at the H&H building at 405 W. Franklin Street last Friday: Nudashank presented a two-person show of paintings, while The Whole Gallery presented works from a large group of Baltimore artists, thematically connected by the representation of animals in contemporary art.

Downstairs at Nudashank, the narratives are more contained, inscribed within the art-historical tradition of painting. “Proscenium on TV” by Tatiana Berg is a brightly colored painting with heavy impasto that shows a curtain and a stage. The title helps us think about the similarities between the picture plane, the television screen and the theater. It’s a great example of painting that examines the genre of painting itself and its place in a wider cultural context. In the next room her paintings have moved off the wall—canvas stretched over pyramidal structures which are then mounted on casters– little nomadic tent paintings. Tatiana employs the vernacular of painting while pushing its limits.

Colin’s mop actually inspires emotion in me. It makes me think about anatomical irregularities or failures of character. Tatiana’s work, meanwhile, excites me, but only because I really like following the esoteric dialog in which she’s taking part. Her work is more academic, I suppose, whereas Colin’s work, insofar as it employs materials that are not art specific, is a little more accessible.

Tatiana spoke to me of a possible future show in which she would put casters on the backs of traditionally shaped paintings so the viewers could kick them about the gallery floor. She admits there is a humor to her work. She calls it silliness. I wondered if her trajectory away from traditional painting would take her into more sculptural work. She expressed her loyalty to her medium.

New Paintings: Tatiana Berg/Ted Gahl
Nudashank
H&H Arts Building
405 W. Franklin St.
3rd Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201
http://nudashank.blogspot.com/
Nudashankgallery@gmail.com
February 12 – March 12

Terms of Use
Gallery Four
H&H Arts Building
405 W. Franklin St.
4rd Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201
http://www.galleryfour.net
February 12 – March 27

Animal Attraction
The Whole Gallery
H&H Arts Building
405 W. Franklin St.
3rd Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201
http://wholegallery.blogspot.com/
wholeyrollers@gmail.com
February 12 – March 27

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