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Human forms take on new, profoundly charged
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he images in the exhibit
"Body as Metaphor" refer-
ence familiar forms, but they
come together in unusual
ways. Drawings, paintings and works of
mixed media offer visual experiences
dependent on a 20th-century context.
Curator Peter Williams, putting the
exhibit together for Detroit Artists
Market (DAM), invited inventive
approaches to the issues surrounding
why, how and in which ways the body
can be interpreted metaphorically.
Three of the eight artists —
Bradley Rubenstein, Madeline Silber
and Shana Kaplow — have Jewish
backgrounds but there is little, if
any, of that reflected in their work.
Rubenstein comes closest as he corn-
pares some of his surreal figures to
the mythical Golem.
"I reconfigure body parts, grafting
different pieces together and chang-
ing the scale," explains Rubenstein,
37, who expresses his ideas through
pen and ink drawings often done in
sepia tones. "They're my way of
examining things going on in the
world without being preachy."
Rubenstein, a former student of
Williams at Wayne State University,
compares himself to out-of-control
genetic scientists experimenting with
the development of new life forms, as
he projects outrageous results akin to
science fiction. After seeing a mouse
with a human ear, he drew a human
with an oversized ear.
At the DAM, Rubenstein shows
two portraits, Study for a Hybrid #1
and Study for a Hybrid #10, both in
shades of gray. Each young face is
half girl and half boy.
Rubenstein grew up in Illinois and
moved to Michigan with his family
in the 1980s, earning a master's
degree at WSU. He now works out
of a home studio in New York,
where he also develops art curricu-
lums and teaches.
"I've begun working with digitally
manipulated photographs and then
drawing from that," says

Rubenstein. "In that way, my drawings
are gleaned from reality."
Silber, the child of a psychiatrist and
social worker, examines through paint-
ing what her parents examined
through counseling sessions — rela-
tionships. She has completed new
work for the Detroit exhibit.
"I want to show connections
between people and things," says
Silber, 39, who went to graduate
school with the curator at the
Maryland Institute-College of Art. "I
have a lot going on in a small space,
and I want the objects and spaces to
be real and remind viewers of things."

Silber's painting Conjoined, for
instance, is 10 x10 inches and about
how forms are stuck together and
work together, once more referencing
relationships among people. She uses
lots of colors, and her newer pieces are
more playful.
Nov working out of a home studio
in upstate New York, Silber has sup-
ported herself by teaching and doing
museum work in New York City.
Although part of other exhibits, this
will be her first with a catalogue.
"A lot of my paintings are about
looking into yourself and understand-
ing," Silber says.