“When I came in here I picked up that one,” says a young man, pointing to a flesh-colored latex object Chicago artist Jeanne Dunning has placed on the floor during a gallery talk for her current exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Over a dozen of the ambiguous plastic shapes–they squeak when you squeeze them–are strewn about the room. At first glance they look like gourds, green peppers, pears, and bananas; but they also resemble human organs. A video monitor plays The Squeaky Toy Tape, which documents a dog playing with the objects. Museum guards permit visitors to do the same. Dunning says she relishes the dog’s unconscious play juxtaposed with the “underlying perversity” of his chasing, biting, and tossing around objects that look like human body parts.
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The exhibit Jeanne Dunning, organized by Washington’s Hirshhorn Museum, is at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 237 E. Ontario, through December 31. The MCA is open Tuesdays through Saturdays 10 to 5 and Sundays noon to 5. Admission is $5 (“suggested donation”), $2.50 for students and seniors. Tuesdays are free. Call 280-5161 for information.
