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Putnam was first recognized for producing gawky, overgrown soft sculpture suggesting mutant animal refugees from a lonely child’s night nursery. Only two pieces in the show refer to this three-dimensional body of work. A sort of large martyred bear, nailed to the wall, greets visitors at the door. This is followed by a colorful pack of life-sized fabric rats, scuttling ceiling to floor, down a wall as if possessed by rapacious hunger. The rats initially prompt a primal recoiling. The cheery fabrics out of which the rats are made quickly reverse any such feelings of repulsion and fear. A plaid rat is the province of charm, not terror. And while each rat is a deft, life-like composition of wrapped and bundled materials, it is only in numbers that the rats possess an emotional charge.
Amazing work– great article.