By Paul Varnell

Contributing writer

In the gay community bears are friendly, furry, corpulent men. And, it turns out, they can be talented too. The second annual “Bear Art Show” at Bears Like Us on Broadway features paintings, photography, sculpture and metalcraft by local or regional bear artists. The works are scattered around the store above the merchandise racks.

Perhaps the most interesting pieces, partly because they are a less familiar form of art, are the wire sculptures by self-described “bear cub” Kelly Courtney. Using single long strands of copper- or gold-colored wire, Courtney creates recognizable shapes and actual pictures.

“Breadhead Awaits” depicts a clearly recognizable knife and loaf of bread on a stained wood background. But somewhat strangely, the end of the loaf of bread has a face on it, whether intended as humorous or macabre.

“A Place to Hang Your Hat” is a more or less abstract work of meandering wire on a large board painted yellow that Courtney views as a potential hat rack. In addition, at the very top is an image of a small hat. Courtney estimates that perhaps 15 feet of wire are involved.

Unique among Courtney’s art is a large re-creation of the elaborate pictographs drawn by pre-Columbian tribes into the Nazca plain of Peru. Unlike Courtney’s other works, this one uses a number of smaller pieces of wire to create the birds, animals and other designs. No one knows what prompted the tribes to spend the enormous amount of effort to create these pictures. They may represent tributes to their gods or pictures they imagined in the stars. In any case, Courtney places the images on a black background with numerous white dots like a night sky with stars.

Other wire pieces include a cowboy hat, a cowboy boot complete with toolwork decoration, and small calligraphic pieces of individual words relevant to gays or bears specifically: Liberty, Equality, Freedom, Pride, Woof and the bear-appropriate Grrr.

Turning more briefly to the other artists, pop artist Jeff Lassiter, who has appeared in several recent exhibitions, contributes two works—a primarily calligraphic piece called “Stop Licking the Yellow Banana” which contains references to the Velvet Underground band and the “Star Wars” film series, and “Superhero Self-portrait,” a picture of a man in a black T-shirt and a narrow black beard. The “Superhero” piece suggests an expansion of his earlier graffiti-based repertoire to include comic book style images.

Photographer Carl Fleming is represented by two particularly attractive pictures of flowers, one of a calla lily, the other of a partially open sunflower. Neither the shape nor the nuances of color in the flowers are ones you would normally associate with them and they make a striking impression.

St. Louis photographer Keith Buchholz displays a series of six untitled collages each consisting of a color photograph of a man’s chest or part of the chest, along with other photographs or drawings of tables, chairs, and buildings. Some of the other images are recognizable: A perspective drawing of one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie-style houses and the high back dining room chairs Wright designed for Chicago’s Robie House.

Kelly Courtney, who curated the show, pointed to Buchholz’s similarities to Robert Rauschenberg, a useful comparison. But while Rauschenberg’s work often seems to verge on Dada-esque whimsy. Buchholz seems to imply a connection between objects he includes—the attractiveness, solidity or assertive physicality of the men’s bodies and that of the buildings or objects he includes.

Photographer Rick Aguilar contributes two detailed black-and-white photographs, one of a chest with a thick hair pattern, the other of a raised arm and a section of a chest with a leather harness. Both photographs probably appeal most to a niche audience of leather and bear-fan.

Lastly, metal craftsman Dennis Hull contributes a variety of chain mail-based wearables such as wrist bands, armbands, gauntlets (to cover the forearm) and single-strap jockstraps. All of the pieces are made of small metal rings 1/2 inch in diameter alternating with similar sized black rubber rings to make the product stretchable. The work are obviously labor intensive: Hull estimates that there are more than 1000 separate pieces in the jockstraps.

Despite the small size of the exhibition, it includes interesting and attractive work. For people who are wary of going to galleries, visiting an art show in a gay-friendly commercial space is a fine way to begin.

“Bear Art Show,” at Bears Like Us, 3732 N. Broadway, has been extended for a week or more beyond its original Sept. 9 closing. Bears Like Us is open noon-8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.