Chris Frost

Somerville sculptor Chris Frost’s applies grown-up rumination to childhood play in his show at Boston Sculptors Gallery. “Fort,” 2008 (pictured above), is a jury-rigged plywood tree rising to the gallery ceiling. Aluminum “planks” form a ladder up the trunk to aluminum “boards” that create a shelf fort between branches. On the floor nearby is “Trap,” 2008 (pictured below), which resembles one of those traps seen in old cartoons. A boulder is held up by a stick, which can be yanked away by a rope when someone takes the bait – in this case a sandwich, the perfect lure for hungry guys or Yogi Bear. There’s a jaunty playful charm to these pieces, but Frost gets serious with his craftsmanship and materials, which often masquerade as something else.

In “Trap,” the stone is actually stone, but everything else is bronze. The effect is to make manifest boyhood dreams and pranks, but give them an adult twist via the more sophisticated materials that slow us down enough to think about what we’re really playing at. And I think what we’re playing is war.

“Chris Frost: New Work,” Boston Sculptors Gallery, 486 Harrison Ave., Boston, Sept. 3 to Oct. 5, 2008.