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Art Fri Mar 12 2010
Lauren Kalman and Annie Heckman at the Museum of Surgical Science
Anatomy in the Gallery is the rotating exhibition space at the International Museum of Surgical Science. From March 5th to May 21st, it will house two exhibits- Annie Heckman's You thought that you were alone but I caught your bullet just in time, and Laura Kalman's Blooms, Efflorescence, and Other Dermatological Embellishments.
Annie Heckman's exhibit lies behind two heavy, black curtains. Pulling the curtains aside uncovers a dark room that feels like the damp basement of a horror movie torture scene. The floor is littered with glow in the dark bones and skulls, and a chandelier of bones hangs from the ceiling. The exhibit is on a timer that allows for a light to turn on every five minutes and recharge the glow in the dark paint. If you happen to catch the exhibit in its intended state, its effectively chilling. If, however, you pull back the curtains at a time when the lights are on (there is no way to tell before peeking in the room) the room feels more like a third grader's Halloween project. The bones and skulls are painted cutouts, and their 2-D reality is disappointing without the flowing effect.
If your mom freaked out about the nose ring you got in high school, then she might pass out at Lauren Kalman's Blooms, Efflorescence, and other Dermatological Embellishments. In this photographic series paired with display cases, Kalman explores dermatological diseases through the use of jewels and piercings, protruding from the skin. Warts, herpes, and cystic acne are all much expressed with an artistic spin on a medicinal textbook explanation. The jewels, semiprecious stones, and pearls used in clumps, somehow express the gruesomeness of skin abnormalities, even though alone, they would be scene as beautiful. You know that uncomfortable feeling when you catch a glimpse of a poster describing genital warts at the doctor's office? This exhibit feels just like that- which is apparently the intent.
Heckman and Kalman's exhibits are both unique, but both feel a little flimsy when surrounded by the fascinating science of the museum. Presenting artwork in the International Museum of Surgical Science is a well-intended idea, but it's difficult for the artwork to compete with the real artifacts of the human body and surgical procedures that fill the surrounding space.
