Condoms on fruit and oversized recliners are not the first things one expects to see while visiting an art museum. Yet two new exhibitions at the South Bend Regional Museum of Art — "Musings" and "Discord and Opposites" — feature exactly that.

Dreamlike objects and sculptural furniture are featured in "Musings," a new exhibition by Illinois sculptor Michael Helbing. "Musings" is located in the museum's entrance hall, where the sun lights the collection as if it were in a garden. The stainless steel furniture has a natural feel, seeming to belong outdoors. An oversized chair, ottoman and table make the coolness of the steel attractive and inviting.

Helbing refers to his current work as "the product of daydreams, night dreams and sweat thoughts." These fantastic beginnings can be seen in "It's A Curious Thing, Night Thought," a free-standing steel sculpture with odd curves and spikes reminiscent of creatures from a child's dream. The interactive exhibit encourages the visitor to sit in the large recliner and contemplate works like "Process of Attainment," a sculpture composed of small winding staircases and geometric shapes.

Helbing invites the viewer to "browse, inspect and interpret" — and there is much to be explored. One of the more humorous pieces, a collection of small steel objects placed on individual shelves, is entitled "Little Fetish Objects" and includes such pieces as "Pointy Killer Thing" and "Not a Dildo."

Another new exhibition at the Regional Museum is "Recent Paintings: Discord and Opposites." Muncie artist Scott Anderson addresses "idea systems in conflict" in his large-scale paintings and prints. Anderson's postmodern works are brightly-colored and portray similar subjects. Most seem to show fruit, forms of joined organs like double hearts, human figures and groups of repeated circles — all set against detailed, contrasting backgrounds.

Themes of conflict are symbolized in Anderson's compositions by the juxtaposition of conflicting forms, such as a condom and a lemon in "Opposing Forms Series: Flout." This same discord between nature and the modern world is seen in "Opposing Forms Series: Corruption," where a banana is covered with a condom and a family group of sheep are held captive in a bubble. The richly colored "Lemon King" shows a king impaling himself on his own sword next to a large bleeding lemon. Anderson means for this "meat lemon" to represent "an idea [that is] not only sour but palpably vile and absurd."

Anderson describes the theme of his paintings with the word "dyscrasia," meaning "an abnormality of the body, bad mixtures and poison blood." More specifically, this abnormality of the body — as seen in the joined hearts — represents Anderson's philosophical concerns, while the notion of bad mixtures symbolizes what results "when two legitimate yet incompatible value systems meet." According to Anderson, the term "poison blood" is a metaphor for dogma crushing tolerance.

Although the philosophical paintings of "Discord and Opposites" are nothing like the whimsical objects of "Musings," both exhibitions present an interesting look at the issues of modern life, making for a full and thought-provoking visit to the Regional Museum of Art.

Helbing's exhibit of "Musings" will run until June 25, while "Discord and Opposites" will run until June 11. The Regional Museum of Art is located in downtown South Bend in the Century Center, 120 South St. Joseph Street. Admission is free to members and a donation of $3 is suggested for non-members.

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