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The buzzing in your ears isn't the result of postholiday neuralgia or the recent Black Sabbath show in San Jose, but rather the hum of insects caught, literally and figuratively, in THEM, SomArts Gallery's month-long bug show. An assembly of 20 artists, scientists, and designers,THEM uses poetry, drawings, sculpture, video, painting, and installations in an attempt to bridge the worlds of insects and humans.
Much of THEM is academic--detailed reproductions of roaches, beetles, and other bugalia: don't miss Ron Cauble's butterfly and walkingstick specimens pinned under glass, or Victoria Saxe and Ginny Kiesch's faithful
reproductions of fleas, bees, and beetles. Darrell Ubick's electron images of ants and other burrowers are
fascinating in their reproduction of detail--every little hair on their buggy heads is visible.
Other work is more conceptual: Mark Thompson's "House Divided" is a short series of photos documenting his flat, converted to an apiary, in Berlin. Thompson's work is one of few pieces that suggest a peaceful cohabitation with the bugs, an attempt to understand one another. Likewise Dr. Robert Full's video and stills provide a fascinating look into the Poly-Pedal lab, a workshop devoted to studying how insects move in order to mimic them with tiny robots. "We must preserve the biodiversity of even the most disgusting animals," Full writes in his statement,"because diversity enables discovery."
Yet one never forgets that this is an art show, too, and several pieces include some of the bugs' mysterious beauty in their theme. MD Stutz's "B-B," a monstrous, phallic bee made of cardboard strips, dominates the room, hovering before a series of sketches and studies with a combination of menace and whimsy. On the opposite wall, Gary Brewer's oils portray a honeybee and green bottle fly, large paintings that invite a shift in both artistic scale and in human understanding of the creatures. And Rob Cragie's menagerie of leaf insects, hidden behind screened cages (use his flashlight for a more gothic lighting effect) look more real than you can imagine, a fitting reminder of insects' abilities to camouflage.
On your way out, take time to read Olivia E. Sears's poem, "Insects I Have Loved," a multistanza ode that parallels insectoid characteristics with an emergence and understanding of identity. The piece succeeds in transcending two worlds that will remain historically estranged. THEM is about understanding bugs--presumably contrasting them with US. It's a valiant purpose that succeeds, at least partially. In the end, however, the show teaches us more about ourselves than about the creepy-crawlies who begrudgingly share our planet.--Colin Berry, citysearch.com
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