i always imagined i would love basements

i have failed to mention that our apartment building is next door to coffee shop and wine cellar. this cellar is connected to the basement below our building. tonight, right when night fell we returned to our building to see the doors wide open with a black sign and a mod dressed german woman telling us the exhibit was down the stairs to the left. while i was tempted to justify my existence and residence, "oh no, i live here," i denied this one human tendency and did what the woman said. down below, was a charming man in a black sweater with a knowing smile you would like to invite to your dinner table and hope would come. he handed us little cups of wine and huge tin flashlights. the smell of the damp basement made me pause for a moment looking at the space before even taking notice of the art. cobwebs and pipes, an ancient jar of preserves. the decay of the bricks were the perfect nooks for Jan Bobek to house his art. when i started to take a look around i realized i was constantly confusing subtler pieces with the environment. i walked past a branch only to return and see neon foxes and alligators mischievously taking part in daily tasks. the majority of the installations were tiny shadow boxes with clay figures, chiefly animals and toys. the little boxes reached their most incendiary point with the ecstatic animals falling over, spilling doll house size glasses of wine, and jumping from the ceiling, while three chalky stately human faces were displayed on the wall in lieu of boars heads. and despite almost ghastly themes, the cartoonishness of the pieces allowed a transcendence of the sinister and instead a playfulness of modern times rather than a mere ironic shock-fest. i felt a little fonder of contemporary art this evening, especially when Mr. Bobek came gently over to us and showed us one had a button to play techno music.