Contributed by Bill Arning / An effusively punky-queer sensibility infuses all 14 ceramic objects populating Luka Carter’s first show at Fireplace Project’s Warren Street storefront. Their image world has a phantasmagoric fantasy feel, something like a 2026 version of Pee-wee’s Playhouse. As in that environment, everything in Carter’s world is animate, everything potentially has a face, and any blank area seems destined to be covered with pop flowers and all manner of critters, every one of which could, in theory, engage us in conversation as Chairy, the friendly plush armchair with big eyes on its back and a mouth between its seat cushions, could. Take Carter’s dinner tray, crafted just slightly larger than life and seemingly meant to sit on one of those folding TV tables your folks would set up so you never had to stop watching My Favorite Martian or Green Acres. Its center handle is both a face and another dinner setting, with a ceremonial plate, cup, and bowl.
