A Wright angle for L.A. Modernism

If Modernism were a religion, Dennis Boses would be the new pope. Last year the owner of the 25-year-old antiquary of cool, Off the Wall on Melrose Avenue, became the promoter of the annual Los Angeles Modernism Show, which opens Friday and runs through Sunday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Boses promises spectacle: a gazebo from the defunct Frank Gehry-designed restaurant Rebecca’s, 1,400-pound gold ceramic archangels by Gladding McBean and aluminum “Buck Rogers rocket cars” by L.A. sculptor Baron Margo -- and those are just the lawn ornaments. Inside, Boses says, you won’t find just Charles Eames. Nearly 90 dealers will represent “the complete span of 20th century design, from Art Nouveau to contemporary Brazilian furniture, which is red hot right now.” One highlight, above, a rare Frank Lloyd Wright cast aluminum chair (take a deep breath, it’s $45,000) made for Price Tower, built in the mid-’50s in Bartlesville, Okla. (818) 244-1126; www.lamodernism.com.

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SEEN

Waiting for a Pop fly

April showers bring May ... baseball mitts? The lawns on Beverly Boulevard west of Robertson sprouted last week with outdoor furniture that sports a decidedly Pop art flair. At Kartell ([310] 271-0178; www.kartell.com), Philippe Starck’s all-weather Ploof, $910, is a salmon-pink molded polyethylene settee that resembles a 1950s cartoon UFO. A couple of doors down, Jules Seltzer Associates’ frontyard is a catch: Giant plastic fielders’ gloves serve as out-of-the-box seats. “People kick their shoes off and curl right up in it,” says owner Grant Seltzer. First designed in 1970 in leather by the Italian firm Studio De Pas d’Urbino Lomazzi, the Joe has been reissued in indoor-outdoor polymer, $965. It resists rain -- and Dodger Dog damage. (310) 274-7243; www.julesseltzer.com.

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SCRIMP/ SPLURGE

Art that creates a buzz

Top: Form and Pheromone’s 2-inch-deep satin-black shadow boxes hold exotic beetles or iridescent butterflies, such as the Morpho didius from Peru, shown here. Roughly 13 inches by 16 inches, they make a big decorative impact -- a spare and elegant choice for natural historians, be they young butterfly collectors or decorators with a classical sensibility. $225 at OK in Los Angeles; (323) 653-3501.

Bottom: Smaller and scrappier, Kohlman Quinn’s ready-to-buy or made-to-order collages are 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches, with a distressed frame. As off-the-hook wall hangings, these creepy crawlers mounted on thrift-shop nature paintings have a funkier, punkier, handcrafted Miss Haversham quality at a price that’s perfect for decorating Junior-the-budding-entomologist’s bedroom. From $55 at Kohlman Quinn in Echo Park; (213) 413-9900.

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FINDS

A splash, indoors or out

“Pools have always been an inspiration to me,” Angela Adams says. “I love the color, the water and the shapes.” Now the rug designer is getting in the swim of expanding her empire with groovy ceramic tiles that may drive Mod-mad homeowners right up the wall. The first six designs in Adams’ collection for Ann Sacks debut next week at the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas. They include the raised geometric relief Manfred and the retro Corice, shown here. “L.A. is the perfect place for these designs,” Adams says. “Just imagine one of those gorgeous midcentury homes with a pool tiled up in this collection. Or a bar. I’m obsessed with it.” The collection runs $22 to $46.50 per square foot and arrives in June. Ann Sacks in L.A., (323) 658-8884; Laguna Niguel, (949) 831-3333.

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Additional reporting by Times staff writer Lisa Boone