"The Wisdom of Solomon" by Marvin Tadlock.
The cast bronze sculptures of Mary Tartaro [Blacksburg, Va.] also deal with the body, but treat it quite differently than does Kelly. Tartaro composes her figures of disparate body parts, mostly human -- some parts skeletal, others fleshed; this gives them an eerie presence that is all the more disturbing because they are nearly life-size, inhabit the same space as the spectator, and seem to be alive, though apparently unaware of our presence.
These figures, which seem to be haunting visions from some post-apocalyptic future, make a work like the columnar steel sculpture of Marvin Tadlock [Bristol, Va.] seem the epitome of serenity; yet in his title, Tadlock's reference to Solomon's wisdom suggests that the cleaved forms at the column's top refer to a child being severed into two equal parts, one for each mother claiming it as her own.
