Wilshire Center

Alison Saar’s carved wood and painted tin figures of stiff staring zombies deal frankly with the human soul hamstrung by pain. Tinged with irony, these junk encrusted icons to the common man, invoke the supernatural to capture something of the desperation of individuals struggling to make the actuality of their lives match up to their inner needs.

For those who want to gain control over their lives, Saar has constructed a series of “potions”--life-sized three-dimensional love charms that mockingly abet the dreams of the unsatisfied. “Love Potion 2, to Tether a Ramblin’ Man” is a tongue-in-cheek altar honoring a shoe-leather heart for lovers who need the reminder.

Saar is extremely sensitive to the negative and positive power within the people she talks about--from the shifty, cheap-suited gambler in “Snake Eyes” to the sturdy forcefulness of the Klein blue “Diva” with the heart of a songbird. In a sense these images and sculptures are portraits of power. The power of survival. For some, that survival depends on oblivion, as it does for the small blue painted carved figure, “Briar Patch,” peacefully sleeping while hogtied by barbed wire and riddled with rusting nails. However “Lazarus,” a chalk white standing figure holding a snake for a staff and spattered with glittering drops of blood-red rhinestone, doesn’t ignore but is transformed by his wounds.

Roughly carved wooden figures that recall folk dolls and strange junkyard totem poles are among of the strongest works. Small or life-sized, tormented or triumphant, they have the individuality of real people or the mysterious potency of a healing effigy. (Jan Baum Gallery, 170 S. La Brea Ave. Ends Oct. 29.)