The Pitch
Art Capsule Reviews
Our critics recommend these shows.
By Rebecca Braverman, Annie Fischer and Gina Kaufmann
Published: Thursday, June 9, 2005

Extra/ordinary: Fiber Artists Rethinking Art and Everyday Life There's a piece in Extra/ordinary that nicely sums up this group show. It's Michelle Carol Fried's embroidered work depicting a little girl stitching a hankie. Above her, a thought bubble reads: "fuck it." To some extent, that's the motivating force behind the show. For this exhibit (in conjunction with June's International Surface Design Conference), curator Maria Elena Buszek takes on the stereotype of a fiber artist -- an older woman wearing copious layers of hand-dyed clothing -- and kicks it to the curb. Although fiber art still seems the domain of women (there's one man in this show), it's the sort of woman who listens to indie rock. Jenny Hart is the perfect example, embroidering illustrations of rock gods and goddesses like Iggy Pop and Marianne Faithfull: old craft, new twist. Mark Newport's "My Batman" is a Batman costume knit from acrylic yarn, complete with eye holes and horns. It hangs sadly on the wall, unlike the firm latex suits we've grown used to in recent Batman movies. And we can't stop thinking about Maggy Rozycki Hiltner's hand-stitched depictions of domesticated animals gone wrong. In "Pet Fish," a kid drags a fish on a leash, and we laugh. In "Play Time," a little girl lets a dog up her skirt, and we wince. Through July 9 at the Cube at Beco, 1922 Baltimore, 816-582-8997. (R.B.)