La Cienega

L.A. Artist Jeffery Vallance speaks with the guileless sincerity of Beaver Cleaver, but the smirking spirit of Eddie Haskell is at the heart of his current show, “Blinky the Friendly Hen.” The Blinky saga that spawned this mixed-media conceptual work commenced in 1978 when Vallance purchased a frying chicken at Ralph’s market and had it buried with all the trimmings at the Los Angeles Pet Cemetery. On the 10th anniversary of Blinky’s death, Vallance had the ill-fated fowl disinterred, subjected to an autopsy to determine cause of death, and reburied. The procedure was recorded in a videotape by Bruce and Norman Yonemoto that has the structure and wide-eyed delivery of a school report by a sixth grader.

Also on view is voluminous Blinky documentation (the Ralph’s sales slip that brought Blinky and Vallance together), mementos and a rubber chicken in a casket flanked with flowers. There’s also an entire room of faux naive folk art exploiting the chicken theme--lamps, woodcarvings, dishes and so forth--executed in a style best described as Cub Scout kitsch.

The piece puts one in mind of “Gates of Heaven,” a film by Erroll Morris that explores America’s pet burial industry. But, whereas Morris shows empathy for the bond between human and beast that results in expensive funerals for departed pets, Vallance seems to mock it. He also gets in a few digs at documentaries, folk art and Christianity; there’s a “Shroud of Blinky” as well as a drawing of Blinky juxtaposed with a drawing of Christ. The most off-putting aspect of the piece, however, is the fact that Vallance seems to snicker at the innocence that’s an intrinsic part of love in any form. (Rosamund Felsen Gallery, 669 N. La Cienega Blvd., to July 8.)