Editor's Pick: Multi-media installation

Art, poetry, music, 20 iPods and a Human Lard Dog

Sat., Aug. 13 through Fri., Sep. 30, at the Blue Victorian, 4874 Main Street, Jeffersonville, NY. 845/482-5544.

A cactus plays an electric organ, a fez-wearing man clings to the Bob Hope in his heart and a forlorn man laments the challenges of being shy. Welcome to the strange and whimsical world of Steven Erdman—self-styled Human Lard Dog—whose “House of Lard,” an installation combining art, poetry and music, comes to The Gallery at the Blue Victorian on August 13.

Why lard? “It’s just a word that makes me smile,” says Erdman, whom gallery clientele will get a chance to meet at an artist’s reception from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on opening day. “When people see it, or hear it, they often don’t know what to do or say. But I like that.”

This kind of off-beat approach is evident in Erdman’s graphics work, done in fine-line brush and black ink with gray gouache. It also shows up in the way that Erdman mixes his media to mold his message: each of the 20 art pieces is displayed with a corresponding poem and its own music that can be heard via individual iPod Shuffles affixed to every piece of art. All of the music is written and produced, (and in many cases performed), by Erdman along with various collaborators including Jay Samuel, Curtis Hasselbring, Jamie Saft and Boz Borrer.

Erdman’s multi-media credits range from creating artwork for Henry Miller Library Benefit Concerts, to writing, illustrating and producing the Promax-award-winning “Nosey” television station identification spot for Nickelodean, to illustrating and producing animated segments for PBS’s Children’s Television Workshop.

In December of 2003, Erdman moved to North Branch in Sullivan County. He made the acquaintance of Blue Victorian proprietors Greg Brooks and Maurice Seaton when he walked into their establishment as a customer. Over time Greg Brooks and Maurice Seaton, the proprietors, learned of his abilities as an artist while Erdman had an opportunity to observe the potentials of the Blue Victorian as a setting. The fruits of their collaboration is this unique multi-media installation, which promises to enrich the cultural life of Jeffersonville for the remainder of the summer.