It's not everyday you are able to take a stroll down a hallway and see animals and humans getting it on. Rabbits spinning faster than a tilt-a-whirl was one especially bizarre piece encased in glass that will make you blink twice.
This surreal animal house is at the UB Anderson Gallery where Francisco Toledo's "Contemporary Graphic Art" is on display through May 28. The art exhibition is part of a series called "The Latin Connection: Arts Across the Region."
Francisco Toledo's work strikes chords. The representation of graphic, disturbing symbols force observers to contemplate what Toledo is striving to say.
While sex is prominent in the majority of his work, Toldeo's juxtaposition of symbolic references through the use of creatures from the animal kingdom and the implicit inclusion of human sexuality lets everyone know that the 1970s must have been an incredible time to be under the influence.
Toledo creates an assortment of animals and obese humans prancing around in nothing but ridiculous hats, wearing high heels or tennis shoes. The hostile environment within each piece is full of images that are a hybrid of personal experience, Toledo's ethnicity, and European mythology.
One of Toledo's pieces in which the sexual tension between nature and humans is most conspicuous is "El Chapulin." In this particular piece the sexual references are not as subtle as with others.
Toledo morphs the naked human body and assembles it in an orgy-like fashion where the humans are in the center, while grasping onto a larger-than-life penis. Scattered on the canvas are barbaric grasshoppers that seem to be attacking the innocent humans on the outskirts of the totem.
In another piece of the exhibition, "Little Hare" has a lion that engulfs the entire work, while a nude woman lies on top. The woman is doing something constructive near the lion's reproductive region. Bonnie Smith, a Niagara Falls resident, laughed as she tried to explain her thoughts on the piece.
"The symbolism of the lion, taking up almost all the space represents maybe masculinity," she said, "and the woman is tiny compared to the lion. We all know what she is doing."
Other works, like "The Killer," had some attendees feeling quite disturbed. In this piece, a mysterious hand holding a butcher's knife is held above a helplessly tied luminous goat. The apparent message draws attention to the use of animals for individual or corporate gain.
Stephanie Nardozzi, an education major from Niagara University, had mixed emotions of shock and disgust.
"The man with the knife, the poor, innocent goat-it's a little disturbing," Nardozzi said. "It just does not sit well."
Toledo's disturbing images carry an important message about humanity and our relationship to animals. Through potentially shocking images, he seeks to jolt our sense of awareness to the realities of our modern existence, far removed from the world of nature.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
