Before entering the “Fragonard Mood Swing Faux Pas Fart Show,” I am required to attach a piece of cloth, cut to resemble toilet paper, to my shoe. This, I am told, will free my inhibitions and allow me to enjoy the exhibit without prejudice.
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Kopp has expressed his freedom by inserting the word “fart” into well-known quotations scribbled on a wall. “Only through fart can we get outside of ourselves,” says Marcel Proust. Gertrude Stien (sic) checks in with “A fart, is a fart, is a fart, is a fart.” Rudyard Kipling is quoted, “The Devil whispered behind the leaves, “It’s pretty, but is it fart?”‘
I walk around the exhibit and look for broken taboos. Nonfart pieces include Shampoo Spill With Hair on Arm Rest Taken by Mistake From a Doctor’s Office, the Give Yourself a Hug Doll With Placenta Sound Track, and a painting called Count Chokula Chocolate Milk Doo Doo Toast. In the fart collection, a piece of yellow foam hangs on the wall inked with the legend, “Silent Butt Deadly.” There’s also a huge plastic bag hanging from the ceiling labeled 101% Pure Fart Gas. The Farting Frog Vat With Potpourri de Jour is a barrel of water containing a plastic frog which, when dunked, creates bubbles.
“The Fragonard Mood Swing, Faux Pas, Fart Show” runs at the Near Northwest Arts Council gallery in the Flatiron Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee, 3rd floor, through July 30. Admission is free. Gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday, noon to 5. Call 278-7677.
