Branch Gallery features "Propagation," the work of Taiyo Kimura, seen
in last year's group show "Floating Worlds." The four works here,
spread out in Branch's spacious, spare room, make up the Japanese
artist's first solo show in the United States. A row of emptied milk
cartons lines a shelf, looking utterly banal at first glance -- a
Warholiaan reference, perhaps. However, when a viewer peers inside
each carton through its spout, an implied narrative invisible from the
exterior unfolds. "Life's an Ocean, Dead Finks Don't Talk," two
mannequins bound up in lengths of gray knit fabric zippered and
strategically unzippered to create eyelike apertures from which we
voyeuristically view unclothed mannequins, typifies Kimura's wry,
quirky visual humor. Nearby, a pair of memorable "babies" crawl on
the floor. Their heads are soccer balls, while their bodies are
sheathed in the black and white leather patches in the black and white
leather patches from which soccer balls are made. The ubiquitous wall
of pinned sketches and ideations completes this installation. Make
what you will of Joshua Abelow's cheeky "Mystic Truths," on display in
Gallery II. They seem to consist of a grid of multicolored, crudely
lettered panels alternating the repeated phrases "Harder, Faster" and
"Hang Me." The impudent painting "Thank You" hangs in curious
proximity. Through April 19, 401-C Foster St., Durham. (919)
968-1116, www.branchgallery.com