Vega, Kimberly Zsebe “Girls Doin’ It” at The Loft at Liz’s

 

“Girls Doin’ It, Featuring a New Wave of Women Artists”  is an all-woman show, curated by a man, but let’s not delve into the concepts of patriarchy,  because they have no bearing on the nature of the work shown; nor is the work about “doin’ it” in the boy/girl, beast-with-two-backs sense.  This lively and thoughtfully curated group show, which features women who do some great art, runs through October 6 at The Loft at Liz‘s.

Liz’s Antique Hardware on La Brea Blvd provides a treasure trove of vintage hardware and goods–light fixtures, hinges, doorknobs, keys and nails. Upstairs, The Loft at Liz’s current exhibition reveals of treasure house of vibrant images and art curated by collage artist L. Croskey. Croskey–a founder of of the Cannibal Flower mobile gallery and Thinkspace Gallery–began his art career as part of the Pasadena street tagging crew IMB (Images Beyond Mentality) before studying fashion design. Both backgrounds are present in his collages which create candy-colored worlds centering around the perception of  women’s dreams fantasies and dis/illusions–bright, bold, playful and pointed. Crosky’s curatorial style reflects his art and training, showing a keen awareness of  flow, space, color style and most of all impact, with many large works from the likes of  Christina Angelina, Kristen Bockrath, Ariel DeAndrea, N.S. David, Andreanna Iakovidis, Lauren Haggis, Kate Sikorski,  and Mimi Yoon.

But Croskey’s skill as a curator shines most brightly in the subtle placement of two artists, Vega and Kimberly Zsebe on either side of the staircase on the loft level, but tucked away. Both artists who work with metal. Think about it–metal discretely flanking a liminal passageway, a cannibal flower…  Zsebe paints religious icons in the traditional manner, tempera laid down carefully in specific order, according to methods used for nearly two centuries, but instead of framing the faces of Mary with Baby Jesus in gold and silver halos, she uses printed aluminum from soda cans, a method which calls to mind Haitian artists who usd colorful scrap metal to create artwork. Vega’s doll figurines, which hang in a their own room to the right of the staircase, are also framed with metal; instead of halos, they are surrounded by metal cages. These handmade, sculpted dolls with taxidermy aspects have stories in the form of poems attached to their cages and boxes, but Vega also leaves space for the observer’s imagination to take over. Her creations are tragic, mournful and alive in their pain, haunting and haunted, summoning up emotions and providing reliquaries for storing those parts of our psyches.

Vega’s portion of the show will hand through October 16, while the rest of “Girls Doin’ It” will be up through Saturday October 6. There’s an artist panel on Saturday October 6 at The Loft at Liz’s 1:30 to 3pm, along with the Miracle Mile Art Walk.

“Girl’s Doin’ It, Featuring a New Wave of Women Artists”
Through October 6; Vega’s show through October 16
Artists’ panel Saturday October 6, 1:30 to 3pm
The Loft at Liz’s
453 S. La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles
323.939.4403
Open Monday – Saturday 10am to 6pm