Artscape

Touring Exhibit

By Amanda Heironimus

Dina Sherman is not pushing hot purses. She's not after your petition signature, and she most definitely is not trying to convert you.

Sherman is owner and curator of IMA Gallery, and should you catch sight of the cherubic brunette on the street, you'd be well-advised to approach. Wherever you may be, you'll find her gallery conveniently in front of you, strapped to her body.

A tiny space displays a new artist on a different body part every month or two. The current incarnation of IMA Gallery features the work of local artist and OSU fine arts professor Scot Kaplan.

Kaplan's video installation can be found in a seven-by-12-inch, two-sided room Sherman wears, via homemade harness, on her front. It features visual cues, including the parquet floors and track lighting typical of a modern gallery. A portable media player shows Kaplan's short film, 30 Cakes, through a cutout in one wall.

Kaplan described 30 Cakes as experiential art, in which the viewers gather meaning from their own personal reaction to it. In this case, responses could range from laughter to sympathy to a sudden, undeniable craving for baked goods.

To get the full experience, I met Sherman and Kaplan at the MoJoe Lounge in the Short North. Sherman changed into the gallery and offered me a pair of headphones. Pulling them on, I leaned in to the little room, which, seconds into the four-minute short, envelopes me in its clean, white walls. Suddenly, size matters very little.

As Kaplan pointed out, in creating such an intimate space to display artwork Sherman gives credence to the idea that a gallery doesn't have to be huge to carry weight in its content.

He quoted renowned curator Matthew Higgs who, while touring a newly opened and enormous gallery in New York City, commented, "Well, now you get to see the art, and you get a nice, long walk."

The IMA Gallery spares its visitors the long walk. Sherman created it hoping to make the art gallery concept less intimidating and more accessible. In doing so, she's become a walking, talking display, and the only woman I know who effectively invites complete strangers to stare at her chest.

That's been a bit of a challenge on her part. While Sherman is a friendly girl, available at all times for visitors to ask questions, she's not the social butterfly you might expect. But her soft voice and mild nature have also been assets to her work. Sherman has the uncanny ability to disappear behind the art, playing the role of informative backdrop.

"How much more open and accommodating can a space be?" Kaplan said.

Even so, as Sherman has begun to show the gallery in public—at Comfest and Gallery Hop, and this Friday at the Wexner Center's artist showcase and potluck—she admitted to receiving mixed reactions.

At last month's Gallery Hop, the first wave of passersby regarded her with uncertainty and occasionally disdain. "I had a lot of people snubbing me at first," she said. "I think they thought I was trying to sell them something."

After several brave souls broke the ice, however, she said most viewers were amused and enthusiastic about her work.

Indeed, at MoJoe she caused quite a stir, attracting curiosity from many people: The barista, the waitress, the white-haired, bespectacled guy in the "Vote for Pedro" T-shirt. If mass appeal is what Sherman is after, it seems IMA Gallery has achieved it.

August 2nd, 2007

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