Speaking in Tongue

Semiotics, hermeneutics, phenomenology: These aren’t standard topics for pop lyrics, even if the songs are from the geeky dance-punk band Electric Tiger Machine. Although that band is no more, singer Gary Setzer has combined his passion for art, music and philosophy into his latest performance/art project: “Supralingual/Sublingual: The Tongue is the Terrain.”

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• Gary Setzer

“When I saw people sweating, dancing and singing along to my explicitly nerdy lyrics about philosophy, it made something click for me,” explains Setzer, an internationally renowned multi-media artist. “I realized what was missing from my artwork, and I took down the walls between my love of music and art.”

In “Supralingual/Sublingual,” Setzer installs his own Devo-esque electro-pop alongside video and other eye-and-ear-popping elements that are “specially engineered to relieve the awkward boredom” of typical one-man shows. “Concept-driven art can take some elbow grease to sort through, but I love this about art,” Setzer says. “It’s like a puzzle to me. The audience chooses their level of involvement with the work, but every level should be rewarding.”

“Supralingual/Sublingual” takes place at 8 p.m. tonight at Plus Gallery, 2501 Larimer Street. Admission to the event is free; for details, call 303-296-0927 or visit www.plusgallery.com.
Fri., July 2, 8 p.m., 2010