In the Galleries - Dark Star CLOSES February 16 at Good Citizen

Dark Star Cloaked in black hoodies, vinyl track pants, sneakers, cycling gloves and face-covering Manchester United scarves, two life-size figures loom midstride at the center of this ominous exhibition by St. Louis-based artist Daniel McGrath. Drawing its imagery from CCTV and journalistic footage of the August 2011 civilian race and class riots that erupted in London and elsewhere in England, the exhibit renders the form of the hoodie-clad insurrectionist in pencil sketches, tiny clay sculptures and acrylic paintings that populate the space like a techno-Goth zombie horde. In Mobicule tiny, writhing black-hooded clay figures — sitting, texting, fighting, screwing — froth on the surface of a white plinth. CCTV, a massive mural on the gallery's rear wall, depicts the hooded figures in an ambiguous crowd setting, their dark forms pixilated by the spectrum of low-res video transmission. In the gallery's front window, a mangled shop sign blinks "CELL PHONE," and a gummy, hand-sculpted iPhone sits on a shelf nearby. Humor is not lost on the artist (the show's title is taken from an early John Carpenter sci-fi parody), despite the dead-serious subject matter. Playing on the monstrous irony of today's culture, in which the Grim Reaper has traded cloak and sickle for athletic wear and cellular technology, McGrath sides with neither victim nor perpetrator, implicating the demon of consumerism-at-large for our absurd fate. Through February 16 at Good Citizen Gallery, 2247 Gravois Avenue; 314-348-4587 or www.goodcitizenstl.com. Hours: noon-5 p.m. Fri.-Sat. and by appointment.