A Different Animal

Already imbibed enough candy canes and Starbucks eggnog latte to send you into a diabetic end-of-the-year coma? Need a Grinch-style punch in the Who-ville to bring you back to the parallel universe called reality? Whoa! I know, too much Scrooge dims the Yuletide rouge—how about just an eyeful of images to digest over an evening? Dallas' own curmudgeon Laray Polk brings a portion of her controversial media exhibit Gaza Zoo back to the metroplex to stir up some hot blood for global coolness. The De-Material Girl's 40 oversized images—inspired by the 2004 destruction of a zoo during the heat of civilian conflict—are a challenging war of words about a world at war with Madison Avenue and Western ideological domination. A life-long student of linguistics, anthropology and the acculturation of ideas, Polk provokes her audience's intellectual reaction by forcing a literal interaction with her content, a style popularized by earlier media darlings Marshall McLuhan, Noam Chomsky and David Ogilvy. The show runs through January 5, 2008, at the Haley-Henman Gallery, Dallas. Call 214-749-1277 or visit haleyhenman.com.
Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, 12-5 p.m.; Thursdays, 12-8 p.m. Starts: Dec. 14. Continues through Jan. 5, 2007