I forgot to go to the Friday night party for Contain It! at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center, which sucks because it was probably the one chance I’ll ever have to see LA artist-turned-public-access-host John Kilduff perform live. Did anyone see him paint, blend drinks, and exercise? How was it?

On Saturday, I stopped by to see the 10 PODS filled with installations by local artists. Nancy Cervenka (top) departed from her usual practice of film sculptures—colorful horns, coils, and pods literally made of celluloid—and exhibited a slide show of her photographs. The images feature a peculiarly sensitive G.I. Joe action figure, posed and shot in various existentially fraught scenes during an extended road trip Cervenka took by herself last year. Joe, seated regally on a spotlighted pedestal in front of the comi-tragic slide show, ogled visitors as he clutched a mini celluloid staff in one hand.

Also with a photo-based installation, Marina Williams drew visitors into her PODS unit as if with a magnet. There’s just something about old snapshots and family portraits—whether they’re yours or someone else’s—they’re endlessly fascinating. Bowl cuts! Horn-rimmed glasses! Shag carpet! Stepping into the container lined with literally hundreds of family photographs (protected on the floor by a sheet of plex), visitors could become benign voyeurs for a moment.

Just about every time I see a project by Shane Hoffman, I’m impressed. The USF MFA student also has a little something up at the FLOCAS show right now at West Tampa Center for the Arts (more about that in a bit), but I hope people came out and saw this installation in Dunedin because it’s a good one. The action in Hoffman’s felt tableaux centers on figures imagined as part of an elaborate personal mythology; here we witness the birth of two red birds who figure prominently in his other drawings, stories, and installations. (I love how the mama bird sits sanguinely in a rainforest of felt leaves and hearts as the babies get squeezed out of her birdy vajayjay. Fun!)

And finally, Michael Carpenter’s installation was a pleasant surprise. I hadn’t seen work by the Ringling student before, but check out his great use of color and materials. Love the matrix of fragments that slightly obscures his fanciful painting of two humans wearing Tellytubby-esque costumes in a wooded landscape. I’m intrigued… I want to know more…

Here’s the article I wrote about Contain It! for Creative Loafing last week. Go to myspace.com/containit to find out more.