Rat Hole Gallery
Closes June 6

A snowman on fire, women dancing on a car and the chopped-off roof of a vehicle used as a skate ramp are just some of the countless startling images encountered in the "16 mm films" exhibition of Wilhelm Sasnal.

Presented in the basement of the Rat Hole Gallery, in Tokyo's Minato-ku, the Polish artist's first solo offering in Japan delivers an eclectic showcase of films and paintings that frequently confound viewer expectation.

Reveling in its anarchic execution, the film "Marfa" (2006) follows a car's deconstruction from automobile to a "stage" for an ensuing punk rock concert in a bewildering series of events. Music features too in the film "Love Songs" (2005), as the typed lyrics to "Blue Moon" are erased with a pen in a real-time "duet" with Elvis Presley's rendition of the classic ballad.

Highlighting the films on display, the exhibition's title belies the selection of untitled paintings also on view. Sasnal, arguably better known as a painter, presents a series of abstract works that evoke despairing isolation and sometimes show the wanton destruction of individuals.

The paintings, as in Sasnal's films, frame fleeting moments of happenstance. Experienced as a succession of individual images rather than within a linear narrative whole, everyday objects and other ephemera emphasize a fly-on-the-wall quality to image making that captures the reality of the artists' subjects. A surprising use of music (and its embodiment within images) compounds an emotional distancing between subject and viewer.

The artist, who lives and works in Poland, defies definitive interpretations of his works and rather presents to the viewer a multitude of possible meanings. What can be evidenced, however, are Sasnal's inherent concerns for social and political issues and his wholly unique approaches toward it.

Rat Hole Gallery is open 12 p.m.-8 p.m., closed Mon. For more information, visit www.ratholegallery.com