"Sub: Cultural, Textual, Liminal," an exhibition at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's new gallery SPACE, Downtown, is rife with visual energy and inquiry.

"Eagle" is a still from Drew Pavelchak's animation "The Monkey Writes," for which the artist has appropriated images from The New York Times to address the malleability of information as it's presented by the media and received by the reader. It's in the exhibition "Sub: Cultural, Textual, Liminal" at SPACE gallery, Downtown. Click photo for larger image.

Works by 10 artists that explore the realms from which cultural structures arise build upon one another to generate more complex questions.

Visual artists have been particularly activist this election year, and much of the work is political -- all of it, actually, if you see the politico-socio spectrum as a continuum. Chief among these is CMU grad Drew Pavelchak, who appropriates familiar media imagery from The New York Times for smart animation works "What Ten Planets Tilt for This?" (2003) and "The Monkey Writes" (2004).

On the other hand, the casual visitor may not know that the sprung roll of tape trailing from what appears to be a utility closet is a political work, "Trial Research." It's Todd Pavlisko's and Kristin Bly-Rogers' protest of the investigation of artist and former CMU faculty member Steve Kurtz by the FBI, which began after police found biological material he was using in an artwork in his home.

Heather Mallak, for artist group SARROGIT, has hung a wall of hand-lettered cardboard panels made by homeless people and/or panhandlers, most purchased from their makers for $10, giving them Duchampian elevation and raising questions about art and exploitation.

Philip Rostek's "Touching the Face of St. Francis" continues an exploration of the mystic and hints at the esoteric quality of the search, while Rostek's weathered found objects "Several Considerations of the Crucifixion of Our Lord" set up a rhythm of quiet meditation appropriate to their subject.

	"Kerry" is also from Pavelchak's "The Monkey Writes," an anagram of "The New York Times." His "What Ten Planets Tilt for This?" is an anagram of "All the News That's Fit to Print." Click photo for larger image.

Bob LaBobgah shows his most ambitious and successful work to date, "The Bamboo Grass of Madness," an installation that presents his interests in the East, psychology, philosophy and theater through a veil of erotica. LaBobgah's performance by the bone dry river bed co., "The madman's metaphysical flirtation with the throes of death: the Marionette Operates," will be given during the exhibition's closing reception, which is 7 to 10 p.m. Sept. 17.

Rounding out this conversation-igniting exhibition are very fine works by Carrie Schneider, Carin Mincemoyer, Peter Burr and Jim Lingo.

To co-opt a popular phrase, this exhibition rocks.

"Sub" continues through Sept. 18 at 812 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Hours are noon to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and noon to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Admission is free. For information, call 412-325-7723 or visit www.spacepittsburgh.org.

Emerging AOY

The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts 2004 Emerging Artist of the Year exhibition is safe. Adam Sipe will exhibit this fall along with Artist of the Year Jim Duesing, according to board president Catherine Kraus, who expects the executive committee to finalize approval of both shows at a meeting Tuesday.

AAP Annual news

The 2005 Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Annual Exhibition will be held at The Andy Warhol Museum, opening June 14. In 2006, the show returns to Carnegie Museum of Art after a several-year hiatus.

The Associated has moved into the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, where it's keeping office hours from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays. The group plans to add hours in upcoming months.

President Kenneth Beer says the AAP will remain autonomous.

"We're two nonprofit art organizations coming together in one brick and mortar structure in the city."

As to the center's current difficulties, he says, "We empathize with what they're going through -- we know it all too well." He says that AAP has put its problems behind it and is on the way to a "bright future," and that the members look forward to working with the PCA as it does the same.

AAP will hold a new member screening Nov. 7 at the center. For an application, call 412-263-2710 or visit www.aapgh.org.

Flowers fading

This weekend is the last chance to see the excellent "Flowers Observed, Flowers Transformed," with work that spans 12th-century Chinese ceramics to the present, at The Andy Warhol Museum, North Side (412-237-8300).