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By Dan Leone

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EROTICISM IN ART is nothing new, but eroticism in art by people with disabilities is still a touchy subject. The controversy over "Brut Love," an exhibition of works by artists with disabilities from Creative Growth Art Center, began before it even opened, but now that the show is under way, the hope is that it will facilitate a more open, less uncomfortable dialogue about the lives (sexual and otherwise) of disabled people. The featured artists – Camille Holvoet, Aurie Ramirez, William Scott, Gerone Spruill, and Lolita Triplette – present work that has never been shown before. A panel discussion about the issues raised in "Brut Love" titled "What's Love Got to Do with It?" will take place at Southern Exposure Oct. 9 (7:30 p.m.; $3-$10). In the upstairs gallery, John C. Rogers presents "Grey Invaders," dioramas detailing the unsuccessful takeover of the United States by unknown forces. It begins with a well-worn map of the United States, which is marked to look like a record of someone's cross-country road trip but is actually supposed to represent, we soon realize, a plan of national attack as conceived by some malevolent army. A subsequent series of small dioramas fleshes out the scenario. Their obvious humor makes it clear that they are just facetious imaginings – that Rogers isn't claiming to have actually witnessed an attack on a KFC restaurant or a line of invaders waiting to use the men's room at a roadside gas station. By overlaying elements of sci-fi horror on scenes of everyday suburban life, Rogers hopes to inspire a little paranoia or a little smile, or both. What if, he asks in his gloomy-funny way, we should be worrying not about New York skyscrapers but instead about the McDonald's down the street? Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m-5 p.m., 401 Alabama, S.F. (415) 863-2141. (Also "Brut Love Satellite Exhibition," Sept. 12-Oct. 11, Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and by appt, Creative Growth Art Center, 355 24th St., Oakl. 510-836-2340.) (Lindsey Westbrook)