Brief sketches of what's happening in the Denver art scene.
By Michael Paglia
A really smart-looking show now on view at Pirate (3659 Navajo Street, 303-458-6058) has a very matter-of-fact title: New Work by Jimmy Sellars. Sellars is an associate member of the co-op, so his work would normally be found in the back of the gallery space, under the loft. But because of a last-minute cancellation, he was able to use the much bigger and better members' space in front. It's a testament to this emerging artist's abilities that he was able to effortlessly fill the larger space, and do so with a thoroughly cogent body of work
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Sellars
uses digital photography to create elegant,
pseudo-figure studies focusing on G.I. Joe dolls in
lieu of live models. The photos could almost be
beefcake shots, if not for the fact that the subjects
are made of plastic rather than flesh. The dolls,
which are not anatomically accurate, are shown naked
in a variety of homoerotic poses, both alone and in
pairs, sort of like soft-core porn. The most amazing
thing about these works is how easy it is to forget
that the subjects are dolls, and instead read them as
real men.
As you might expect, given the homoerotic approach
here, Sellars is addressing his own gay identity. As
a child, he would project his feelings on to his G.I.
Joes and have the little soldiers act them out at his
direction. In a way, that's the same thing he's doing
with these figure studies at Pirate. While the idea
of photographing naked dolls might seem like a
one-liner, Sellars makes it much more. He gets as
wide a range of images as he would using live models
-- maybe more, because he has total control over his
subjects.
With the holidays, there's just one day left to
see New
Work by Jimmy Sellars: the day it closes,
December 26.