Spruce Street Forum:
"Body Broadcasting" fun art by artists Melissa Smedley & Curt LeMiex. (Through-January 19)


"No performances tonight, that died back in the 80s".
Naked people running around doing weird shit, bad acting and poorly presented productions".

- The Unknown Art Administrator (very loosely quoted, but you got the gist of it.)


I had to finish my cigarette before I went in to face the mob. I new it would be extremely fascinating and it would be a while before I got out of there. Bright lights, white walls, conversations and laughter echoed through the space. It was the call of the intellectual! I knew then, that I was in the right place. I took my first step toward the Body Communication. Suspended wires, extended wires connected firmly to the groin of two figures drawn on masking tape. A large portion of two walls was covered in tape. In the main exhibition space I found much of LeMiex's little figures on what appeared to be prepared papers (in glass frames). Little wires and tubes joined to the drawings extended out of the glass and hung like a horse mimicking the parts of the figures. My interest was more about the contour lines of the figure and its primitive quality. Did he buy the paper ready-made? I would have liked these drawings a lot more if they weren't protected and formally placed in glass.

MACRO CUFFS? Scared the hell out of me!
Giant institutional-like hand/arm/body cuffs are extended from the center of the room. Joined in tape and streaming over the ceiling, down the wall and Covering the large rectangular gallery-front windows. From there, to a cob of corn turned into a telephone by Melissa Smedley. Ok! I got it! Communication! Body parts connected to an electrical outlet, conceptual ant stuff and some really dirty ski boots. They were either snow boots or a new type of leg warmers (art leg warmers) trying to tell us they are cold and dirty. I love implied narratives! The booties were filled with soil and perched upon a rooted trunk, not very functional. I was then drawn to three amazon like women with short art-hair engaged in apple martini, spin the bottle-like conversation. It would seem every cities art world has its own style highly influenced by the BEATLES. Maybe it has to do with the recent death of one of its members and people were paying tribute. Aside from my newly constructed interest in fashion, art-fashion, the work left me handgun', like the institutionalized cuffs floating above my head. I pursued my investigation into the Body Communication talking to art people along the way. A tightly enclosed room with an attitude---voluminous with long spikes relative to large pencils protruding outward and puncturing the walls of the room. Seeking asylum from the menacing spikes threatening lead poisoning, I migrated near a seemingly misplaced palm tree planted in the center of the room. My eyes followed the trees descent into the ceiling and through the sky light. I began to imagine what the top might look like but then I got bored. Large white, heavy, stone-like blocks hung all around the tree trunk with rope. If I was a hippie, "AND I AM NOT!" I might have been inclined to hug the tree and/or free it from its heavy burden. I saw this installation as a metaphor for the artist struggling to free the imagination, determined to sore out into the universe of endless possibility. Only to find themselves bound within the confines of the institution, frustrated by the limitations, expectations of the gallery walls and handicapped by the restraints of bureaucracy. Reinforcing my idea that art should be free! The Spruce Street Forum is a non-profit visual and interdisciplinary arts space. One of the few places in San Diego that presents installation, video, experimental music, and poetry readings. I don't know how accessible it is to the emerging, emerging artist as a venue? Even San Diego has its heroes and ART STARS! It has UCSD written all over it which is probably why it still exists. Check-it-out! check the reader events for their next show! Go to your nearest vintage store and purchase a new art outfit and swarm the next event. Take it over! After all, its yours to take!