STUDIO 107 FLESHES OUT FINE NEW ART

Silly name notwithstanding, "Slick, Furry, Lush, Line" at Studio 107 Art Gallery is a serious group show worth a stop-by. The exhibition consists of 10 new (2006) works by four artists: Candace M. Briceno, Miguel Cortez, Young-Min Kang and JeongMee Yoon.

Two, Kang and Yoon, make an impact. Kang offers sophisticated sculptures with obvious technical achievement and more inconspicuous conceptual references. His "Oily Aero-Dynamic Skin," is an approximately 2-foot tall skull assembled from cutout pornographic photos of female bodies. Some literally spill onto the gallery wall. The architectural idea of "skeleton and skin" is redefined by dissecting and amassing slick images of human flesh to construct that flesh`s own underlying support, an imposing skull with cavernous eye sockets. Interior and exterior are confused.

Exceptionally impressive is Kang`s "Chinese Trojan Horse." Here chopsticks are neatly assembled to produce an exquisite horse mounted on a railroad track. The horse`s sense of movement seems almost Futuristic in form. The railroad atop a bridge is a re-creation of one made in the 1860s by Chinese laborers in the Sierra Nevadas.

Yoon`s photographs may appear innocuous at first, but leave lasting reverberations. Reminiscent of Daniela Rossell`s photos of Mexico`s rich and famous, these images depict individuals surrounded by their material goods, yet disturbingly these proud sitters are small children.

In "Yehyun and Her Pink Things" a young girl sits amid her belongings: plastic toys, clothes, dolls, stuffed animals, furniture ? all pink. Likewise Yoon`s male subjects are surrounded by their things, though all of them are blue. Do these children really "collect" these items? How much of a role does choice play when items were undoubtedly gifts from adults? How much choice do small children have ? other than the gender-hued and mass-marketed stuff seen here cramming their rooms? What does this say about how we raise our kids? Perhaps these photos are not meant to be indictments, but I certainly felt a little ashamed when viewing them.

("Slick, Furry, Lush, Line" continues 1 p.m.- 6 p.m. Tuesdays- Saturdays and by appointment through June 16, Studio 107 Art Gallery, 411 Brazos, St., Suite 107. Free. 477-9092.)

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