Has your love of IKEA abated yet? You haven't been there in a couple of weeks, but that could just be because your only friend with a truck has had quite enough of your shopping shenanigans. Really, how many 50-cent bowls does one person need? (I have 12, just so you know.) When all is said and done, your living room looks just like a page out of the spring catalog. And your neighbor's living room. And your best friend's living room. And a bit like my office too. Yeah, you saved a good chunk of change and learned how to optimize your living space quite nicely, but home just doesn't say "home" the way it used to, does it? It can say you're thrifty. Or hip. It can even say that you're good with tools. It may only say that you're just like everyone else, but be certain that it does say something. Furniture as Metaphor: Contemporary Sculpture and the Poetics of Domesticity, opening Thursday at the University of North Texas Art Gallery, features the works of nine national artists who have something to say. It's not about the design or history of furniture but rather the meaning furniture can have in a home. And I'm not talking about grandma's china cabinetunless it's stuffed with straw a la Mel Ziegler's work. The opening night lecture by Ziegler will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday in room 223 of the Art Building with a reception to follow. The exhibit runs through July 11. Gallery hours are noon to 8 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays and noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. The UNT Art Gallery is in the Art Building, located one block west of Mulberry and Welch streets in Denton. Call 940-565-4316.
Wednesdays-Saturdays, 12-5 p.m.; Mondays, Tuesdays, 12-8 p.m. Starts: April 27. Continues through July 11