Last Chance

Catch it or Regret It

by Tami Fertig

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Published: Jul 29, 2008

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Chances are, you don't look all that closely at Bob & Barbara's when you're downing PBRs on a Friday night. It's dark, crowded, loud as hell. That's why Jim McGorman's photos of the South Street institution are so arresting. Taken during the afternoon, the shots show the place lit up and empty, revealing it in all of its disheveled glory — dirty floors, yellowing signs and chairs missing chunks of foam included.

This juried exhibition is full of treasures that beg for close inspection. Many of the photos are elaborately staged, like Amy Stein's Nursery, a Where's Waldo?-ish image of a greenhouse full of herbs, a little deer resting on a table in plain sight but still hard to see. Others seem more stumbled-upon: Jennifer Tauber's simple, stomach-turning Wastewater No. 7 focuses on a river of bubbly sludge, a label reading "sugar free" peeping out from the guck.

While in grad school, Trenton Doyle Hancock lived with vegans who scoffed at his omnivorous ways. This installation is an answer of sorts to their lifestyle. Drawings depict gaunt figures surrounded by slabs of meat but not eating. Sculptures that remind Hancock of his old roommies — bananas, tofu, organic soap — are scattered around the gallery, alongside yummy-looking drumsticks and burgers (pictured).

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