Some Assembly Required
The cut-paper collages of Erik Farseth bear every whiff of the Italian Futurists: modernist jumbles of men and mechanics, the human form chopped up and tossed in a 1910s salad of speed and industry. But Farseth isn't a historian. In fact, the three dozen pieces debuting in his pop-up show this weekend were all made between the months of March and September — a time marked by electoral horror, mounting nationalism and the foreboding sense of a global doomsday slide. Is Farseth, like the Futurists, summoning world war as the only way to change culture? Probably not. (Dude's a zine-maker and do-gooder punk.) But his show, which for two weeks takes over a storefront space in downtown St. Paul's Minnesota Building, is an astute nod to a fervent, disastrous era when fascism still seemed like a good idea. Voters, take note. (Opening reception 7-10 p.m. Sat., 330 Cedar St., St. Paul.) GREGORY J. SCOTT
