And tantalizing "Styrofoam" is. A small exhibit with fewer than 20 works by 10 artists, the show packs a lot into a little - political content, minimalist beauty, graphic narrative, and exquisite craftsmanship. It spotlights a broad range of artists, from the daddy of conceptual art, Sol LeWitt, to fresh contemporary faces such as de Jong.
Part of de Jong's Armory Show installation, which featured life-size sculptures of Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln, is on view here as "The Piper." Here we have Lincoln, our national hero, as a garish, green-faced zombie with blue teeth.
His red eyes appear to roll up in his head, as if he's drug-addled or entranced. He wears a red kilt and carries pink bagpipes. With its gaudy, splashed-on colors, the piece makes a wonderful mix of dark Northern European Expressionism, kitsch, and scathing political commentary.
LeWitt's two crisp installations, "Black Styrofoam on White Wall" and "White Styrofoam on Black Wall" greet the viewer inside the museum's entry. LeWitt, who died last year, often worked by sending installation instructions to a site and having it made there. In this case, his estate issued the directions, and RISD students broke sheets of Styrofoam apart and mounted the shards on two walls.
From a distance, the results resemble a shattered marble floor. These monumental and imposing pieces loom, yet up close you can see the bubbly Styrofoam texture, and they become more approachable, even welcoming.
