Whimsy. Most artistic types run from the word like theyre being tailed by a zombie with a nail gun, but folk-art master Warren Kimble is more likely to chase you with a syrup-covered stick. Hes from Vermont, you see. The Whimsical State. Land of sugar maples, quilting bees, folks who say a-yuh, and whimsy. Lots of whimsy. Though Kimbles Naive School paintings are more complex than meets the eye theyre packed with subsurface symbolism and veiled irony theyre mostly about the sort of front-porch nostalgia that begs the question, Why the hell cant art be fun?
If youre sick of trying to suss meaning from pitch-black canvases with $30,000 price tags, check out Kimbles color-saturated show A Different Voice."
Thursdays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Mondays-Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sundays, 12-5 p.m. Starts: Feb. 7. Continues through March 9, 2008