Simen Johan at Brown and Maralie at Yellow Peril

By GREG COOK | February 6, 2013

AT EASE A lemur in “Untitled #169.”

"Vanish" at Yellow Peril Gallery (60 Valley St, Providence, through February 10) features Providence artist Maralie (as in Armstrong, who also performs with the band Humanbeast). Here are awkwardly drawn portraits of a mask. And photos of a guy holding his dick and testicles with snippets of Walt Whitman poetry printed on top. And black ropes knotted like braided hair, but with an undercurrent of bondage. And a loop of 14 videos that is a mix of digital glitch art, experimental montage, retro computer graphics, and erotic music video.

There's something about sex and technology and control that often runs through her most provocative work. Earlier surreal videos (not here) of ladies wandering around in fur coats were charged with subterranean memories of weird, late night cable erotica. You can see the potential in the rope works and some of the videos, but most of the pieces feel like formal experiments that don't quite spark.

Read Greg Cook's blog at gregcookland.com/journal.

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Topics: Museum And Gallery , Brown, Yellow Peril

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IN THE CITY | April 23, 2013
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