See Here Now: “Zoo Logic” @ the Lake George Arts Project Courthouse Gallery

It’s all about the animals at the current LGAP exhibit, and curator Laura Von Rosk took on the challenge of balancing the diverse work of 15 different artists into a coherent Noah’s Ark-like show at the cozy Courthouse Gallery. But she did an excellent job, and it’s well worth your time to dash up to see it. But hurry, as the exhibit’s last day is Friday, August 14.

The first pieces to grab hold of me were a pair of long, horizontal collages by Reet Das. Gorgeous in color and detail, the matching 80″-long works combine anatomical cross-sections with skulls, birds, rats, maps and more, conjuring a kind of fauna timeline.

Barbara Moody’s charcoal drawings – “Moving On” and “Should We?” – showcase her eye for dynamics, and a bit of wit as well. David Isele’s quartet of hanging assemblages also bring humor to the fore, especially with “Making Ducks” – where rustic meets kitsch (a perfect piece for a Lake George setting) – and the intricate clockworks of “A Dinosaur Goes to the Museum.”

There’s more wry humor evident in Andrew Johnson’s set of four mixed media pieces that juxtapose gazelles and helicopters in a strange and wonderful pas de deux of nature-vs.-technology. And Adelaide Paul’s “Untitled” sculpture – a porcelain horse fitted with a custom-stitched pink leather patchwork slipcover – took my breath away. And made me laugh out loud, too.

There are two video works in the exhibit: Michael Pestel’s “Ornithological Series, 2009” is more of a music/sound installation created with birds, but Catherine Chalmers’ series of five short videos culled from her “American Cockroach” series are at once the most beautiful and most horrifying works on exhibit.