Cerealart
149 N. 3rd Street
11 a.m. - 5 p.m., through February 15th
If "penguin sex" isn't what springs to mind when you think of snow globes, then you haven't seen Walter Martin and Paloma Munoz's exhibition at Cerealart. Meticulously crafted down to the smallest details, the snow globes are phenomenal, each encapsulating an elaborate, dreamlike scene in a tiny, snowy world. There are men, beasts and all manner of creatures in between - and yes, many of them are getting it on with each other.
Martin and Munoz have been collaborating since 1993, and the exhibit at Cerealart introduces a new twist with several panoramic photographs Munoz takes of her husband's snow globes. A particularly arresting photograph called "A Winter Walk" shows white dementor-like beings floating above a lone traveller making his way through a snowy forest. At once fairytale-like and dark, the scenes evoke a lonely solitude, no matter how many creatures are gathered together within them.
Peering into a swirling winter wonderland to see an old woman facing a beast with a whip is a unique experience. The large scale of the photographs provides a fascinating take on the glass globes, which both magnify and distort the scenes inside them. "They're all quirky," laughs Larry Mangel, the proprietor of CerealArt. Like most of the other art on display at this gem of a gallery, the pieces push the boundaries of reality and sexuality in ways that are unexpected and breathtaking.
