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Scene
Review: A Study
September 14-20
Page 26
By Zack Lewis
A Study -- The tiny Raw & Co. gallery doesn't just house this quirky exhibit by Bill Radawec; it's part of it.
One wall is a replica of the basement in his childhood home in Parma, complete with ugly green curtains
and faux conceptual art. A line of green paint indicates where the ceiling would be; it's extremely low,
and to imagine it compounds already palpable feelings of claustrophobia in a gallery only slightly larger
than a walk-in closet. Along the other two walls are three-dimensional, HO-scale models of what could be
the very same basement. But what's taking place inside these little boxes is what's truly strange: One can
see groups of miniature people engaged in all sorts of vaguely perverted activities. One appears to
show a sex-ed class under way, complete with demonstration; in another, a hazmat crew hoses down a
naked woman. Some bear a faint relation to current events:The naked white man and boy chatting with
a policeman might refer to Michael Jackson, while a kidnapping scene may be an allusion to the
American girl lost in Aruba. These are only descriptions, mere possibilities. Because there are no titles,
Radawec leaves it to his viewers to imagine scenarios that fit his mysterious representations. The only sure
thing is that they're physical manifestations of a bizarre, fantastic imagination. And painting the gallery
to resemble its contents was a stroke of genius. Through October 16 at Raw & Co. Gallery, 1009
Kenilworth Ave., 216-235-5511. -- Lewis
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