The Arts: Mardi Gras artwork

This columnist won't be making the monthly trip downtown to visit the galleries. At least, not while all the wild crowds and flashiness of Mardi Gras is rolling through town. Under the influence of alcohol and free junk, revelers turn into animals - the yearly casualties over a moon pie are proof enough. Needless to say, I'm a little bit of a "grinch" where Mardi Gras is concerned. Every few years a friend tries to "convert me," and I spend a whole night freezing, losing my voice yelling for throws, getting my foot stepped on, all the while being hit on by some con-drifter who ought to be in jail for something. There was the time when my friend was splashed in the face with beer, the time we walked at least a mile from a parking spot, the hazy afternoon when a reveler threw up after eating a foot-long sausage, all the fights, arguments over barricade space, the shootings and the drunks. Despite my apparent hatred, I find most Mardi Gras-themed artwork and photography to be spectacular. Artists have a way of romanticizing the event by bringing out the bright, bold colors of costumes, melding the crowds so that they look like a multi-hued ocean and exaggerating the glowing floats upon the faces of parade-goers. At local galleries, Mardi Gras-themed shows are popping up. At Off Dauph art space, their juried show "Masquerade" opened last week. At the Mobile Arts Council's Skinny Gallery, their show "The Passing Parade" also opened, alongside Cathedral Square Galleries' show "Fat Tuesday's Colors," up until Feb. 28. Some local artists portray only Mardi Gras scenes in their work, like Katie Whitinger, whose work I became familiar with in 2004. She's showing at Ashland Gallery until Feb. 20. All the galleries listed, with the exception of Ashland Gallery, are located downtown on Dauphin Street near the festivities. If you happen to be downtown enjoying a parade, don't forget to pop inside one or two to see the work. For more information on the galleries, don't forget to glance at the somewhat weekly "On The Walls" listing that features all the information from the local gallery scene.