The Pittsburgh City Paper, ‘Next Generation’ / 12.16.04
By GREGORY M. KNEPP

Todd Scalise takes a socio-religious bent in his several paintings. “Apocalyptica” (2004) depicts a dream-like scene a la Salvador Dali. Although smaller icons such as the Twin Towers loiter on the red-hued canvas, it’s the two main figures that provide its lasting imagery. A gargantuan misshapen woman and braying stallion straddle the earth, the horse simultaneously stabbing the woman with both a knife and its phallus. However, it’s at the very center of “Apocalyptica” -- where the anguished woman appears to be giving birth -- that we are begged to ask: Within what kind of chaotic world is this child brought forth?

Scalise’s “King of Diamonds” (2004) escorts the viewer’s eyes around its surface with a faux ruby chain. Literally linking different cameos, “King” mixes myth with biblical iconography: One scene contains a griffin-like creature, another a single-faced man sprouting three beards, while still another depicts a supplicated man, his face to the ground as a massive finger from above appears to shame him for some unknown transgression. Having designed the work like a playing card, Scalise may be asking whether ancient myths, or even Judeo-Christian ideas, are no less fortuitous than the luck of the draw.