Low Gallery : Albert Reyes; Free the Slaves.

Comment: Albert Reyes is not pleased with a number aspects of life in Superpower America, and he does a swift brutal job of showing it. His art is as clear and direct as any I've seen and leaves no doubt in it's intent. Our nation has problems-- huge problems-- and we can only ignore them for so long before something ugly happens (as if it hasn't already). Reyes portends the ugly with a rip-your-face-off style that makes other "issue" artists look like Sunday quilters.

For those of you wondering where urban art is going, this show takes you to the precipice. It's about life in the land of greed, glut, have-nots, acid reflux, bigger, longer, energy swill, bypass surgery, Viagra dicks, corporate perks, politics as usual, morbid obesity, feed me, feed me, feed me, and if-you-don't-like-it-we'll-kill-you. There's a hairline fracture in freedom's facade and it starts right here. Price range: $50-$400. Cheap.

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Lobot Gallery : Human Zoo.

Artists: Matt Hart, Al Farrow, Gabe Castellanos, Nat Russell, Deth P. Sun, David Morritt, Scott Hove, Josh Keyes, Rob Streff, Kristin Wanek, David Muller, others.

Comment: The show features people living in slapdash handmade "cages" for a week. The inhabitants are escorted to the bathroom when they have to go, fed through their enclosures when they have to eat, and I overhear one complain of smelling a little ripe. I ask several cagees what the premise of the exercise is, and get "It's whatever you want it to be" kinds of responses. I know it's whatever I want it to be. I didn't ask that. I asked what YOU want it to be.

Outside, two women protest the cage-athon by selling baked goods and provisions, I think in order to feed the people in the cages, but I'm not sure. They're concerned about the caging of people in society or around the world or maybe in prisons, I think, and that this show does not adequately address the phenomenon of caging, I think. However, I know that people are living in cages at Lobot for a week.

Special added bonus-- the art's pretty decent this time around. At the entrance, a group of little tiny figures are recessed into a piece of sheetrock, too small to photograph, like mini-icons. Several extraterrestrial spacescapes mildly captivate. A series of corporate trademark paintings, the largest featuring a FedEx truck, show promise, as do several scenes of everyday life set onto 3-D half spheres by Josh Keyes. Keyes' retail prices allow 20% for the dealer, but Josh, real life dealers take more like 40%-60%.

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Boontling Gallery, 4224 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, CA 94609; 510-295-8881; Boontlinggallery@hotmail.com : The Human Landscape, Painting, Drawing, Ceramics, and Assemblage Sculpture by Mike Simpson and Derek Weisberg.

Comment: The Grand Opening of Boontling Gallery. "Boontling," according to answers.com, is an esoteric language spoken only in Boonville, CA, primarily by aging hippies and lifelong residents.