Playing Bodies is both a deeply specific, personal account and an undesignated construction that provides the perfect space on which to project ideas of the self. The series of 52 paintings by Francie Shaw and 52 poems by Bob Perelman reflects an intensely united collaboration, one that explores the space where terror and comfort, pleasure and pain are overlaid. Shaw's blue-and-white paintings, reminiscent of Delftware, each depict two of three small toy figurines--a man, a woman and a dinosaur--in various provocative and ambiguous poses, suggesting an often contradictory variety of emotional meanings. As a whole, they form no narrative progression, but rather pose questions about play versus struggle and issues of control. Perelman's lyrics provide “a train of insights into and around Shaw's paintings that is alternately ironic, erotic, saddened and joyful,” for a conversation between poet and painter, artists and readers, which rewards in a more profound way than simple repartee.

Visual artist(s): Francie Shaw
Contributions by: Susan Stewart