When independent curator Jade Dellinger brought Houston’s The Art Guys (collaborative duo Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing) to the Tampa Museum of Art for a midcareer mini-retrospective in January, they hit on the wacky idea of planting one of the pair’s most eye-catching pieces on the museum’s front lawn. Big, bold and full of hot air, two inflatable self-portraits — one of Jack, one of Michael — lorded over Ashley Drive (as traffic swept by) like mascots on a used-car sales lot. And that was just the beginning: The exhibit also included a Doppelganger contest and site-specific installation at Flight 19. Through a variety of works, visitors were treated to The Art Guys’ unique mix of physical comedy and sly social commentary.
This article appears in Sep 12-18, 2007.