At Art Whino's Indulge event on Saturday evening, Ted Kliman's life-sized paintings filled the gallery’s largest room with a haunted feeling. The artist paints not from life, but from mannequins — posing figures draped with plain cloth, and adorning the flowing shapes with tassels and Hebrew writing.

Many of the paintings, such as Bondage I and II, portray anguish and torture — the figures hang by cuffed hands, heads down, with folds of cloth subtly revealing limp human forms. Others depict an even more aggressive scene. In The Eternal Dance II, one figure stands in the background, arm raised, while a second cowers in front, and a third appears as a fading fallen victim. In contrast, the figures in other featured Kliman paintings almost appear to be dancing, with arms raised to the heavens, and bodies leaning into modern dance poses. These works, though more uplifting, contrast so starkly in mood with their neighbors that one might wish them to be in separate rooms.

In Kliman’s most interesting pieces, the figures’ body parts are not as initially obvious because of their crouching, huddled positions and lack of outstretched limbs. Agoniste II (pictured right) and Mourning Figure II demonstrate this most clearly. In all of Kliman’s main works, the hollow, draped figures are painted in whites and grays, floating against a stark black background. However, two cropped untitled paintings hidden in the back of the room, though they appear to be only studies, are measurably more intriguing due to their interesting compositions.

Taking in Kliman’s work, visitors sipped wine tastings from Robert Kacher Selections, ate bite-size morsels of scallop, salmon and pork provided by Alexandria’s Bastille Restaurant, and listened to Yoko K (Aphrodesia) spin her original tunes. This was Art Whino’s first Indulge, an event the gallery plans to hold every two months, not only to showcase local food, wine and music, but to highlight an artist whose work fits outside the realm of their standard fare of low brow pop surrealism. While the food, wine and music is fancier than that found at a typical art opening, at $25 (or $20 in advance) one might expect that the wine and food would be free-flowing, instead of three small pairings. While worthwhile, Indulge is a bit overpriced; the gallery might consider making half of the ticket tax-deductible.

Ted Kliman's work will be on view at Art Whino until April 4. Art Whino is located at 717 N. St. Asaph St. in Alexandria, and is open Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 6 p.m. and by appointment.