Miller, Shellabarger

If you were too young (or just not born yet) to enjoy 1970s endurance-based, performance art like Marina Abramovic and Ulay’s Breathing In/Breathing Out, in which they exhaled into each other’s mouths until passing out, don’t fret. Artist couple Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger produce modern-day, politically inclined, queer performance work. Although they don’t breathe into each other’s mouths until fainting, they do sew themselves into bed. On opening night, the two squirmed, embraced and writhed under linens as they performed Between the Sheets. The 45-minute performance suggested ways that rampant homophobia restricts their relationship to the bedroom: Desperately seeking safety in the domestic sphere, they simultaneously experience entrapment. A bird’s-eye video documentation of the performance is projected onto said bed, preserving bits of the original piece. Politics aside, the two delve into the warm, fuzzy side of relationships. Butter Books is a collection of the wrappers from butter they’ve consumed over the years. (Why so much butter in their diet? Miller is a pastry chef.) At times, however, the lovey-dovey nature of the show goes too far, as with the Photo Booth Series; every couple’s done this one a million times. Miller’s collages revisiting adolescent gay male fascination with homoeroticism redeems the show: He cuts off men’s heads, legs and arms, and replaces them with gigantic penises. This show resonates with a smart, queer aesthetic that is both provocative and playful.—Alicia Eler