The Valley

For artist and gallery owner Phillip Orlando, the way the figure is depicted can be telling. He sees in figurative representation something of a cultural mask that can simultaneously reinforce certain ideas or hide them from the uninitiated. This idea, pretty basic to social archeologists but not often discussed in relation to figurative art, forms the premise to his paintings and small constructions.

Sadly, the naive, somewhat predictable paintings of African masks and spirit effigy don’t add much to the notion. Like hero worship content with appearances, they seem happy to copy the artifacts in a sort of Dadaesque appreciation of the abstract figurative form. Meaning isn’t amplified. Occasional pieces like “Marka With Shadow” look good and keep the original’s mysterious aura of spirituality. But even collaged magazine photos can’t connect the overall symbolism to this culture.

In his trendy magazines turned trashy masks, however, Orlando sets up an interesting analysis of figuration-as-symbol in this culture. It’s a point of view reflecting the harsh glare and hype of media promotion on ideas of sexuality and success. Not incidentally, the glitzy magazines make strangely empty masks. Fascinating yet repellent, they pointedly turn Orlando’s cutting, collaging and painting into something part exorcism, part adolescent fan club. (Orlando Gallery, 14553 Ventura Blvd., to May 26.).