Michael Workman

Bodybuilder & Sportsman Gallery was broken into over the weekend. Smashing in a narrow glass window on the gallery's front door to unlatch the locks from inside, the perpetrators fortunately left the place untouched. Maybe Cupid just wanted to know where his arrows were: the show that survived the break-in is "You Kill Me" by Chicago-based artist D'Nell Larson. Rather than steal our hearts in the dead of night, the love god usually prefers the thrill of blatant seduction. Filling the gallery walls with arrows made of blood wood mounted with Swarovski rhinestones, Larson transforms the masculine arsenal of arrows and snare into a collection of "feminized" objects that would make even Liberace proud. A glittering red ceiling-mounted net threatens to capture those beneath. Though patrons won't have the unusual experience of viewing the exhibit as lit by police flashlights, this sapphic infiltration of romantic classicism glows brightly enough from within.

D'Nell Larson shows at Bodybuilder & Sportsman Gallery, 119 North Peoria, (312)829-3312, through October 4.

(2003-09-17)

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