Wilshire Center

Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend makes glass constructions that take their lead from the antics and subjects of Synthetic Cubism. In that early 20th-Century style, actual textures like chair caning played against printed textures which in turn played against hand applied paint. This sparked a dialogue on flatness and literal surface that’s been the core of modern painting. Stinsmuehlen-Amend juxtaposes every imaginable texture and surface, but she forms these from finely modeled glass. The artist takes everyday objects as her subjects and pulls them together in the helter-skelter, topsy-turvy syntax of Synthetic Cubism. The difference is that hers is a uniquely feminine vision, close to that of New York artist Elizabeth Murray in its homey content and freely associative approach.

“Cinque Petal” is a large, wall-mounted, five-leaf clover ornately encrusted with glistening bits of black and rich green glass. It looks like an oversized bit of ceramic jewelry, a hat or wall paper design. Spiraling half domes sprouting from other pieces look like inverted tea cups, playfully hint at breasts or turn into slippery organic slugs. “Palais d’Embryonic Arabesque” is first of all squiggly, delicious design, but also suggests a button and rhinestone studded vanity with an oval mirror at its center. The recurring oval shape crafted from mosaic bits of inlaid teal, green and brown glass in “Domestic Inception” hints at a uterus canopied by scores of glossy, bulbous eggs. Glass art that throws its glove into the fine art sculpture arena must be deft and intelligent to avoid looking hokey; this work is both. (Kurland/Summers Gallery, 8742-A Melrose Ave., to Feb. 10.)