Robert Wihite's Fat Man Bomb, now on display at the Barry Whistler Gallery
Most of artist Robert Wilhite's work is beautiful but benign: a Tower of Babel made of tissue and wood; a Throne of Zeus that's more or less a chair affixed to a wall; a Sputnik that'd look terrific jutting from a kid's-room wall. But it's the bomb above creating the buzz: On display till month's end at the Barry Whistler Gallery in Deep Ellum, this morning it also receives a lengthy profile in The Los Angeles Times, due to folks' inability to decide whether it's beauty or the beast.
Some viewers have been horrified. Others have remarked that the real Fat Man perhaps saved their fathers and thousands of other GIs who were poised to invade Japan as the war dragged on. "We've heard everything from, 'Why would you want to do this?' to 'This is a beautiful thing, but it's scary as hell,' " said gallery owner Barry Whistler, who will show the bomb through July 26.Fat Man Bomb leaves Dallas July 26, unless a collector coughs up $50,000. Seriously, Howard Rachofsky, what's the hold up? --Robert Wilonsky
