Featured Gallery

Abjectify
@
Soo Visual Arts


by J. P. Johnson

     Soo Visual Arts, strident, gaudy and sometimes profound, is putting on a group show of iridescent oddness. The subject matter of the six artists is cohesive only in that all of the works could be labeled "out there" or are distorted in one manner or another. Sandy Maliga's video installation depicts a woman who moves through stages of the domestic readying a tablecloth, grinding coffee and breaking down crying in a difficult to watch hellish household loop. Maliga, through Double Grind reminds us of our routine, housewife or not, and how unyielding it is in its rendering of our daily life. Also of note at are the paintings of Christine Wilcox and Frederic Munoz who paint very different figures with complementary style and brush stroke. Wilcox, while indulging in the blurry and strange, manages to paint portraits that come off light and optimistic. Her painting “At the Border (defy)” is a good example of this and portrays a man in baby blue head gear at the cusp of some momentous endeavor. The protagonist of her painting oddly carries both the look of a famed adventurer and doleful mourner. These complexities make her paintings enjoyable and worth examining. Munoz's paintings while done in similarly long and amalgamated brush strokes radiate the feel of carnival and radiate the essence of Fat Tuesday. His figures, wild and recalcitrant, sprawl themselves out onto the canvas with licentious ease. His painting "Homme-Femme" is entertaining because it seems to lecture on the falsity of inhibition through a form that is neither charming nor inherently graceful. Munoz's paintings are seductive hodgepodges of unruly imagery and carry an impressive amount of energy in caustic acrylic color. Abjectify is an exhibition that will be enjoyed thoroughly by the open and distinctly subjective minded viewer. Thru Mar 24, Gallery Hours Mon, Wed, Thurs 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Sat, Sun 12-5 p.m., 2640 Lyndale Ave S, Mpls., 612-871-2263, www.soovac.org.