Three Wry Efforts by S.D. Artists

Works by three UC San Diego graduate students are currently represented in one-person shows that shouldn’t be missed. Each exhibition is different, yet each in its own way uses found objects to examine cultural ideologies so ingrained that they are rarely questioned.

Alfonzo Moret’s “Speaking in Tongues,” at the Mesa College Art Gallery, plays off racial stereotypes and the artist’s diverse religious background.

Moret was raised a Roman Catholic and later became a Baptist, but in recent years he has explored and practiced the African religion Santeria.

The exhibition is divided into two parts. The front room contains suitcases filled with found objects and mass-produced imagery. These pieces illustrate recognizable themes dealing with race, family and religion. For Moret, they serve as altars for specific memories, which he has placed in suitcases to carry with him.

Moret’s strength is that he communicates well. One knows he is dealing with racial strife in “Exodus to Suburbs,” or a mother-child relationship in “God’s Love Is Seen in a Mother’s Kiss.” When he explains his works, however, such general ideas become intensely personal.

“I Never Go Hunting With My Father Anymore” is easily read as a commentary on masculinity and war. But, according to Moret, the inclusion of a dead mockingbird points to the fact that, as a child, he was mocked by other children; a toy soldier represents a belligerent stepfather who was a Marine, and the eroding structure on a house frame represents his childhood home.

The second half of the exhibition is entered through a curtain. A dark, muted room contains a large spirit house that shelters an altar filled with both symbolic imagery and offerings from all three of Moret’s religions: a baptismal tank and a quasi-shrine chair represent the location where Moret’s grandmother held him in her arms and told him stories; the altar contains reproductions of saints, plates of fruit, flowers and various Santeria objects. In addition, a video shown against the back wall includes imagery from the three religions. It points to the ritualistic nature of the different sects, and, through that, shows some common threads.

The most moving aspects of the installation are the most personal. Moret has submerged a television set in a baptismal tank, and it shows a video with a facial shot of the artist writhing in water. Interspersed with this image are printed phrases such as “Will this guarantee my passage through the pearly gates?” It is an eerily precise re-enactment of a fear of drowning that the artist experienced when he was baptized, and, like everything else in the show, it questions the dogmas and beliefs that make up our lives.

* “Speaking in Tongues” by Alfonzo Moret , at Mesa College Art Gallery , runs through April 20. Hours are 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and 11 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. Thursday . A parking permit is needed during afternoon hours.

The two installations by UCSD graduate students at Palomar College’s Boehm Gallery are much lighter in spirit.

Upon seeing Melissa Smedley’s “Appliances,” the first thing that comes to mind is the movie title “Those Daring Young Men and Their Flying Machines.” The room is filled with contraptions made from wires, parachutes and other found objects that are absolutely illogical. The irony is that, although many of these pieces appear to be immovable, Smedley, as seen in her videos, makes them mobile.

Smedley is concerned with “devices we employ to gain control over nature.” A focal point for her series is the Colorado River; thus, we find red clay dirt on the walls and a rugged prospector-like aspect in the pieces.

All of the works are absurd combinations of nature, civilization and technology. “Broom Closet” is a wall piece, yet attached to it is a wire, stretched across the room, from which hangs a makeshift propeller. Elements of this work include bricks, a broom covered with dried clay, jumper cables attached to a broom and a well-worn cowboy hat filled with rocks. Among the items on the wall are rusty saws, a corset made from wooden matches and a shovel head attached to a fishing pole.

In comparison to “Broom Closet,” which is filled with symbolic metaphors of how man tried to tame the West, most of Smedley’s pieces are amusing, obscure creations. It is only by seeing the various videos in “Video Tower” and “Video Wheelbarrow,” in which Smedley painstakingly makes these objects mobile, that her message becomes apparent.

Although these videos are humorous, the concentrated effort required to move these large pieces and the complexity of the object belie the serene aspect of nature in the background. For Smedley, we are fools in our conquest.

Daphne Dee Ruff’s exhibition, “Self Image Side Effects,” presents tableaux in which the viewer can participate.

Ruff has created assorted original costumes and placed them in front of backdrops. What is intriguing about these costumes is that, although each refers to a specific title, they also are highly imaginative creations that are not predictable. Ruff’s “Socialite Costume” is a tight-fitting aquamarine outfit to which the artist has attached glass lab slides--this was her way of making an outfit from glass.

“Avant Garde Musician” is a cylindrical metal outfit. At the waist hangs a belt of spoons. The bulky “Golf Costume,” with a hanging baseball bat, looks like something that would be worn by a Neanderthal.

Each combination of costume and tableau becomes a mini installation, an odd mix of sculpture and painting that appears surrealistic, particularly because it appears to be waiting for a person to complete the set. Next to each piece is a framed color photo of an individual dressed in one of the costumes displayed, which allows the viewer to immediately see the full effect.

The exhibition is a multilayered experience. Not only does it consist of the constructed pieces, but it also can include viewer participation, the result of which becomes a part of the show. Two days a week, Ruff is at the gallery with her camera to take photos of visitors wearing the costume of their choice in front of the backdrops of their choice. Along a front wall Ruff has hung Polaroids of these various models.

Ruff plays with many ideas; she makes a wry commentary on the fashion industry as well as the social identification attached to clothing, and she explores people’s desire to express their alter egos.

Like Smedley, Ruff’s droll examination of human nature points out that we make life much more complicated than it need be.

* “Appliances” by Melissa Smedley and “Self Image Side Effects” by Daphne Dee Ruff are at Palomar College’s Boehm Gallery through April 11. Hours are 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Friday and noon - 4 p.m. Saturday . Ruff is available to photograph viewers in costume from noon-5 p.m. Wednesdays and 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Fridays .