 |
| João Penalva Still from Mister 1999 |
"The Portuguese artist João Penalva, who lives in London and is having his first U.S. gallery show at Max Protetch in Chelsea, is also absorbed in tales -- not high ancient myths but rather the humble but timeless folk tale. The exhibition features a pair of projections, the first housed in a khaki canvas tent surrounded by multicolored light bulbs on the floor, as if from a traveling sideshow. A nearby signboard boasts that we are privileged to hear "Mister, the Talking Shoe," and the video offers just that -- a spotlighted wingtip whose toe is worked up and down like a sock puppet by the unseen artist. For almost 30 minutes, the shoe tells "a modern-day sorrows of Job," though in an Irish accent that is all but incomprehensible. The work was a star of the 2002 Sydney Biennale."
