Fishtanks

THE PROBLEM with being a non-conformist is that if you are successful at it, everyone wants to imitate you. If you dare to drop out, do it quietly; otherwise the entire art-world will come toppling after you like lemmings.

Endgame, the new exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), is an ironic tribute to modern art, and possibly its gravestone as well. Specifically, the ICA collection is a display of "reference and stimulation in recent painting and sculpture." The few artists represented in the panelled halls are working quite self-consciously, with pointed reference to works that have gone before.

The cumulative effect of the paintings that make up half the exhibition is an abstraction of abstraction. Philip Taafe's Combine painting is a series of regular waves cascading across the canvas, the kind that gives you a headache if you stare at them too long--but behind them are elements of other paintings, pastel shapes, perhaps a flower. Whatever it is, it's unreadable now.

A highlight of the exhibition is the installation/sales counter by the Canadian group General Idea, who seem to believe that there's no difference anymore between mass media and art anymore. The copies of their "FILE" magazine on display present a truly odd mixture of art and self-indulgence. See if you can find the Art-Deco poodles copulating in geometric precision.

The exhibition is an exploration of the role of art as merchandise and merchandise as art. Although the sheer peculiarty of the pieces can be daunting, the humor and wit apparent throughout makes it accessible to even those who cannot quite understand why basketballs should be placed in fishtanks, and why admission should be charged to see them.