Oakland art gallery Johansson Projects presents Article X, "where functional objects are removed from their usual vocabularies and placed in zones of ambiguity, absurdity, and anxiety." The show will feature work by two artists, David Trautrimas and Kristina Lewis.

Trautrimas imagines Cold War military installations through the digital re-imaging of discarded parts from household appliances like coffee pots, electric razors, oil cans and waffle irons. According to Johannson Projects, these "structures are the hypothesized origins of appliances that eventually trickled down to the public as common household goods that came to define the zeitgeist of the era." We're wondering what the flip side might be—something optimistic, utopic, Ant Farm-esque made from biodegradable packaging and strange gourds?

Lewis works directly (and less polemically) with objects to "free them of their allegiance to the human agenda and give [them] a space to play." For example, below, a building rebels through its light switch:

ARTICLE X Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA Reception: February 5th, 5-8pm January 30th - March 20th 2010