Funny Looking

Visual art usually isn't, or shouldn't be, or wasn't meant to be, funny. On the other hand, Jacob Dahlgren's conceptual installations — or in this case, hike/faux political demonstration/movies — are often gigglefests. The last time we saw Dahlgren's work, people were walking all over it, and someone put a spike heel through one of its little plastic windows. The piece, Heaven Is a Place on Earth, was only getting what it deserved: It consists of a carpet of brightly colored bathroom scales, and the name gets a corny pop song stuck in your head. Everyone was laughing. This time around, at "Sharks, Lions, and Ships," the Swedish artist made use of his time at the Headlands Center for the Arts by marching a group of people around the hills holding Olle Baertling paintings as if they were protest signs. It looks completely silly, but like most of his work, it also has a sweet poetics and deep roots in art history.
July 10-Aug. 22, 2009