Paddle Royale

Gallery owner Kenneth Richardson loves surprises — particularly the kind he receives whenever local artists submit their work for theme showcases at Pravus Gallery. “I’m constantly amazed at some of the imaginative things that people come up with when we hold group shows,” he says. “It surprises me to no end.” Richardson and the gallery’s other proprietors have gotten more than their fair share of surprises while pulling together the submissions that make up Pong, the current exhibition on display at Pravus, 501 East Roosevelt Street. More than 40 local and out-of-state artists provided punky and funky entries for the show, each using an ordinary ping-pong paddle as the basis for their work. Their artistic interpretations run the gamut from Jeff “Waldo” Klein’s snazzy steel and copper creation to J.J. Horner’s deconstructionist piece that features a paddle exploded into tiny shards of wood. Keeping with the theme of the show, which is on display until May 27, a special ping-pong tournament will take place on Friday, May 20, featuring artists battling it out to see whose swat is supreme.
Fri., May 20, 6-10 p.m., 2011