Three artists engage in serious play at Midway Contemporary Art

Pedagogical overlap and a desire to toe the line between serious and funny connects the three artists in this exhibition. In one of Helm's works, raised letters emerge from the surface of a firmer than usual red-and-white-checkered tablecloth, phonetically spelling out the word "unusual" as UNHUSHUWULE. In fact, that word was written for Helm by Lapinski's daughter. In Lapinski's "Little My #3 (Shaker board)," a red chair with humanlike legs, shoes and even a face hangs on a wooden railing encircling the room, a wooden peg covering its face. Arranged on the gallery floor are Perlman's gender-ambiguous wooden figures, which look like enlarged and altered and highly arranged Jenga slabs. Together the various works intertwine and overlap, creating a sort of unclimbable jungle gym. (11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. Ends Nov. 4. Midway Contemporary Art, 527 2nd Av. SE., Mpls., 612-605-4504, midwayart.org)