Just Do It

Hot Air

by Danielle Zimmerman

Opening reception Fri., Sept. 5, 5 p.m., Proximity Gallery, 2434 E. Dauphin St., 267-825-2949, myspace.com/proximityart

When Pat Kinsella finally came to terms with his lack of space and money, he took everything he knew about printmaking and brought it to a computer. What unfolded were quirky digital prints that reflect the Tyler School of Art alum's screen-printing background. These pieces, along with a few of Kinsella's drawings, will be showing all month at Fishtown's newest gallery, Proximity.

At the opening, Kinsella promises the finished product of his newest series of prints, which were inspired by photojournalist Ashley Gilbertson's Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: A Photographer's Chronicle of the Iraq War (University of Chicago Press). Like many of the photos in the book, Kinsella's new prints explore the feelings and complexities associated with living in a warlike state. The lines between good and evil, innocence and corruption are blurred to create scenes of confusion and contradictions.

You'll be forced to draw your own conclusions about the prints, which fit into the surrealist category. Some are eyebrow-furrowing, such as Blimp Walker, in which a straight-faced woman holds onto many leashes with different sized blimps attached. Others are subtly silly: In The Great War, a 1930s-era pilot leans casually against his aircraft as it fills up on gas at a lone pump. While the colors are muted, the details are intricate and intriguing. Just don't try too hard to read into Kinsella's work. "It's all about enjoying, just looking at it," he says. "And if you can find a great meaning behind it, that's even better, but it's not the point."