Universal Capital
This solo show by artist Sean Smuda, who received a State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant this year, presents an array of weird, otherworldly prints that layer historical cartography with imagery connoting the Black Lives Matter movement, austerity governance and "commodity fetishism," Karl Marx's mocking phrase for the belief that money and other aspects of capitalism have intrinsic value. While Smuda's political treatise linking colonialism to present-day economic troubles is heavy on theory, the works themselves are anything but drab. Instead, they delight with dizzying layers chock full of sometimes prophetic, sometimes dreamlike imagery. (Opening reception 6-8 p.m. Fri. includes a performance and food. Artist talk 5 p.m. Sat. with University of Minnesota art Prof. Christina Schmid. Exhibit open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. Ends Jan. 20. Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art, 250 3rd Av. N., Mpls. Free. trafficzoneart.comSHEILA REGAN
