Just in time for Spike Jonze's version of Maurice Sendak's revered escapist childhood fable Where the Wild Things Are (in which Mark Ruffalo and Catherine Keener play young Max's intense and distracted parents, a situation that would understandably drive any child out of his mind), South Carolina illustrator and writer Corey Godbey curates the “Terrible Yellow Eyes” exhibition, a logical extension of his online installation at terribleyelloweyes.com, the collection of artwork inspired by Sendak's story. Equal parts luminescence and enigma, the interpretations — by artists like Adam Volker, Chuck Groenink, Nicole Gustafsson, Peter de Sève and Sarah Caterisano — are a triumph in imagination without unnecessary re-imagining the impact the art left on the artist's more than 10 short sentences. Those sentences — and the art that made the story come to life — are now on the same level as legends and Christmas carols: immortal as childhood itself.

Sept. 19-Oct. 6, 2009

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