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Flesh, Fur & Fuselage
Seriously, what sort of energy drinks do they guzzle at 323East? When we last left that hyper-drive Royal Oak gallery, they were throwing a birthday party and supervising Kobie Solomon's "vertical Sistine Chapel" graffiti masterpiece on their walls.
Now word comes to us that another show is about to be unveiled on Saturday called "Flesh, Fur & Fuselage."
Now there's a title we may have to explain before something flies off the runway prematurely. If your prurient interest has been excited, relax - and leave the raincoat at home.
"Flesh, Fur & Fuselage" is merely a concise and precise summing-up of the art supplied on this occasion by Brian Stuhr, Mark Sarmel, Marc Tice, and Ryan Lee.
Stuhr and Sarmel have opted for the "skin." The two gentlemen find something very inspiring in the female form (what a concept!) and their complementing styles pay homage to the pulchritudinous ideal. Stuhr must have a big aquarium at home judging from the oceanic touches on several of his works. Sarmel, on the other hand, is happier ashore. The motifs in his pieces are retro and evince a nostalgia for that '70s decade.
The "fur" will not (we hope) prompt a protest from PETA. Marc Tice utilizes traditional and modern techniques to capture animalia - and we hasten to add that no animals were harmed in the process.
And finally lined up on the runway is Ryan Lee, described respectfully by his peers as "a manic doodler still searching for the perfect experimental laboratory." That's a compliment - we think. We have determined, however, that Lee draws a nice matrix of lines and fills it with the right spectrum of colors. His is an alternate universe of bionic and robotic shades - solid but not so heavy that it cancels out the ascent of the vehicles.
Fantasy, indeed, could have been the fourth alliterative element in the exhibit's name. We'll merely describe the entire enterprise as fantastic and leave it at that.
Artist reception, 6-11 p.m. Saturday. Show runs through August 8.
