"Art Deco" A Decade of American Design" - PH Sullivan Museum - April 28, 2004 - 1 1/2 stars

A humdrum tour of American mass-marketed utilitarian objects in the 1930s. Certainly the parameters of Art Deco are broad, with something for every Modernist's taste and pocketbook - then and now. But this show hovers toward the unremarkable Fiesta ware end. On the high-end of Le Style, an enameled and wood inlaid Kodak camera by Indiana born industrial designer Waker Dorwin Teague is quite nice and significant in contrast with the content of the rest of this small show. Overall, this peek at a decade of design mass marketed to mainstream America reflects a very limited aesthetic of chromed-out, inexpensive daily accessories, like the spun aluminum relish rosette by Russel Wright. It is not a well-rounded representation of Art Deco by any stretch, but serves as reminder of how the ordinary can be taken as art. Through June 26, 2004; 317-873-4900. -Mary Lee Pappas