Now Hanging: Into the woods

A vintage-clothing shop isn’t usually the site for an art show, but it's a pretty good fit for Dani Dahlke’s new work.

Dahlke, a 2006 graduate of Lawrence University’s studio art program, has assembled a small collection of abstract sculptures and black-and-white photos that are quite modern but recall the past in subtle, abstract ways—a bit like the clothing hanging on the racks of the Good Style Shop on East Washington Avenue.

In the shop’s front room, two sculptures that look a bit like dinosaur bones hover over the dresses and purses. Upon closer inspection, they become a number of other things as well: Their shapes resemble melting mannequins while their substance looks like that of tree trunks. While these pieces seem to take their inspiration from nature and tribal art, they also delve into questions about form and lack thereof.

Dani Dahlke

The two photos hanging close to the ceiling look like basement windows. The scenes they present, however, don’t look much like the houses outside the shop on Hancock Street. Instead, they show realistic bits of forest bleeding into abstraction. Three black pine trees morph into a murky black area in the bottom of the composition, while what appear to be mountains in the background seem strangely similar to clouds.

Dani Dahlke

In another shot, taken from the bottom of a tree, mushrooms climb toward the heavens, like flying saucers searching for their home planets. Adjacent to this image is what appears to be a fairly straightforward nature scene—something inspired by Ansel Adams, perhaps—until you notice the odd details: A random ray of sunlight slices through the center of the image, making the trees on one side of the divide appear to disintegrate. Meanwhile, the dark fir trees on the other side are so tall and thin that they look like shadows or haunted dreams.

While the trees in this picture are vanishing, these pieces will be available to view—conveniently and ironically framed in wood—until July 1.