Out of their element

What happens when you hang a show featuring 27 outstanding artists, but you ask them to submit work entirely different from their usual styles? There is no easy answer. Surprise? Yes. Disappointment? A couple of times, perhaps. It’s just plain different. In The Other Side, a show at b. sakata garo this month, are pieces by such noteworthy names as Fred Dalkey, Mike Henderson, Dave Hollowell, Hung Liu, Jack Ogden, Richard Shaw, Peter Vandenberge and William T. Wiley. Sculptors paint, and painters create 3-D objects. You might think that pulling artists out of their preferred element would produce mediocre work, but most of these pieces are of exceptional quality. The reason why it works is because, with artists of this caliber, the process of making art is the same, even if the style or medium is different. For the viewer, it offers a glimpse into a different aspect of the artists’ work. The gallery is located at 923 20th Street.