Much like the previous week, this class trip was a visit outside of Manhattan to another quickly developing area with a hip young art scene.  I was excited by Pierogi even before setting foot inside because I love the edible kind of pierogies.  That made it all the more interesting to learn about the origins of the gallery and its name.  I thoroughly enjoyed both Dan Devine’s Inside-Out NASCAR and Ward Shelley’s Re-Materializing Art, the two exhibits on display.  I’ve never seen an inside-out car before, let alone one that works, so this was definitely a first.  The idea to take such a commonplace object, one which people see hundreds of every day without thinking twice about, and put an entirely new spin on it definitely makes for interesting art.  Though most people are quite familiar with both the interior and the exterior of a car (though perhaps not a racing car, but nonetheless), I’m pretty certain that most people are not familiar with seeing the interior on the exterior and vice versa.  Viewing a car in such a fashion makes one stop and think about this new perspective, practically forcing one to notice an object that otherwise wouldn’t get a second glance.
            As for Shelley’s diagrams, my first thought was back to Jessica Rankin’s work that I had seen the week prior.  However, while both Shelley and Rankin’s art consisted of diagrams and lots of words, Shelley’s were much easier to follow and actually told a story.  That is to say, I can’t be sure Rankin’s don’t tell a story, but I also can’t be sure that they do.  Many of Shelley’s drawings, however, presented the viewer with history; a history of Shelley, a history of art, a history of culture, and of how all these histories were connected.  The style of these drawings was extremely conducive to showing the relationships between various parts of the diagram, and thus provided the viewer with a way to interpret the works.
            Another highlight of the day was Me and Billy Bob by Jillian McDonald, which was on view at Jack the Pelican.  I think most of the class would agree with me, as we all spent a good several minutes entranced by McDonald’s video of her standing in for various movie stars during on screen kisses, particularly with Billy Bob Thorton.  Over the course of the semester I have seen a lot of bizarre artwork, but this video is definitely up there.  Though McDonald’s obsession with Thorton borders on creepy, the video was still creative and rather entertaining to watch.
            At Black & White Gallery, I was immediately drawn to Peter Franck and Kathleen Triem’s Model Space to the extent that if no one was watching, I definitely would have tried to climb inside of it.  There was something so simple and clean yet elegant about the design that made me wish I had a life sized model of my own.  I really like Black & White’s outdoor installation space and the fact that an exhibition is shown there year round.  In an area full of galleries, it’s important to have unique characteristics that distinguish you from all the rest.
            The next stop was Figureworks, where Susan Newmark’s show, Love Me Tender, provided yet another creative prospective.  Though initially appearing cute and innocent, closer inspection proved that hiding under layers of paint and text was infamous lewd Japanese comics.  Newmark’s works are therefore hard to come to terms with and cause great dissonance due to their surprising hidden nature.  The pieces that I enjoyed most, however, were the little handmade books she had created which were full of crude nudity but at the same time overwhelming beauty.