From the Street

Tales on message boards that are unlikely enough to elicit significant doubt are often followed by “Pics or it didn’t happen.” In the case of the work of Tom Pfannerstill, we could update that to “Didn’t happen until I touch it.” The works in his “From the Street” series are pieces basswood carved into shapes and then painted to resemble, incredibly, folded and stained pieces of mass-produced detritus like beer cans and KFC containers. They’re close enough to pass for the real thing on first glance, for sure. Only when you look very carefully are traces of hand-painted type evident.