Laura Larson's Evolving Desire: Tapestry B & C
By professing to reject the sleek and the manicured (as exemplified by Koons and Hirst), Shane Guffog of Pharmaka Gallery, hardly narrows the field for the group show ProVISIONal at Orange County Center of Contemporary Art. Attempting to corral in 50 contemporary artists, it is no surprise that Guffog ends with a mixed bag. To his credit though, the best work really does shows the hand of the artist (but their names both start with the letter “L†too). Some gems: Leora Lutz’s mixed media painting is driven by alphabetized atlas lists, where delicately hued embroidery connects such far flung locations as Salem, India to Salmon, Washington; and Laura Larson’s wistful hand-embroidered hanging tapestries traces the path of evolving desire from a couple spooning to a couple curled up away from each other with dreams of unicorns and hummingbirds erupting from the patterns on the velvet (Orange County Center of Contemporary Art, Orange County).