Catch It or Regret It

The Value of Names, The Art of Nelson Shanks, ICA Fall Show,

by Rachel Frankford

Jeffrey Sweet's play stars Jack Klugman of TV's The Odd Couple and Dan Lauria, who shall always remain in our hearts as Kevin's dad on The Wonder Years. Klugman plays a retired actor who, when a replacement director (Lauria) is called in for his actress daughter's play, finds himself face to face with the man who denounced him to HUAC 50 years ago. Despite potentially weighty themes, the play is a comedy, even during the confrontation scene between these two aging survivors of the McCarthy era.

Realist Shanks is known for his commissioned portraits of the high and lofty, including Princess Di and Pope John Paul II. (The pope is my favorite. He stares right into your eyes while imperiously beckoning you to join him in holiness and condemnation of condoms.) Ronald Reagan's there too, with half of a small wooden horse of rather violent disposition on a table to his left. Is it symbolic?

Fluxus alum John Armleder's installation has received the most attention, but there are other reasons to see the Institute's fall exhibitions. "Fertilizers: Olin/Eisenman" features the environmental architecture of Laurie D. Olin, a local landscape architect, and Peter Eisenman, a theorist who co-authored a book with Jacques Derrida. In "Fables," several artists play with history and identity (pictured).