Two Shows With Messages : Artists: Some works hit mark, others falter at SDSU, Natural History Museum shows.

“Social Figuration,” a group show of eight artists at San Diego State University, says it wants to bring together artists “who comment on social issues.”

This sounds fairly simple except that the message in some of the art is vague and minimally linked to those social concerns, which include family, racism, women in society or cultural assimilation.

Some of the artists illustrate the theme with straightforward works, such as Alison Saar and her couple-in-love “Fiona” and “Tyrone,” two mixed-media works representing a female and a male with flowers bursting from their hearts. Diane Gamboa’s paintings of men and women illustrate greed and depravity.

But the show, at the University Art Gallery, also includes two artists who seem totally out of place.

Robert Gil de Montes and Arthur Gonzalez are the stumbling blocks in the otherwise strong show. Viewers have to search for meaning in Gil de Montes’ paintings of cartoon-like characters that, although filled with symbolism, don’t make sense here.

Gonzalez’s highly realistic sculptural wall pieces depict what appears to be ancient Egyptians. Though these figures are evocative because of their realism and symbolism, one wonders what the message is, especially in the context of modern society. “The Scribe,” for instance, depicts a child lost in thought as he sits with writing implements in a boat.

You have to wonder how these artists came to be included here.

Commentary from the other artists, though, strongly underscores the show’s theme.

Masami Teraoka takes a wry swipe at cultural displacement by looking at American influence on Japanese culture. “31 Flavors Invading Japan/ French Vanilla” is a traditional Japanese drawing of a woman holding an ice cream cone in one hand and reaching for a napkin with the other.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s “Paper Dolls for a Post-Columbian World with Ensemble Donated by the U.S. Government” is more scathing. This series of drawings consist of various figures such as “Barbie Plenty Horses” and “Ken Plenty Horses” along with numerous costumes. These include “Matching smallpox suits for all Indian Families after U.S. Government sent wagon loads of smallpox infected blankets to keep our families warm.”

Hung Liu coldly examines the traditional view of Chinese women as possessions, juxtaposing them with objects, such as prized vases. One would like to think that these type of women belonged to the past, but Liu’s photographic-like painting style makes one realize it is all too contemporary.

Faith Ringgold’s narrative quilts deal with sexism and racism, but her stories are usually within the context of strong black families filled with love. Racism, she is saying, is always present but it does not have to destroy the spirit.

Kerry James Marshall’s paintings on the other hand place the African-American man and woman within the context of a white society. “A Little Romance” portrays a black man daydreaming. Surrounding him are book jackets of romance novels. All of the women are white.

The social umbrella offers a chance to say quite a bit. It is unfortunate that De Montes and Gonzalez had so little to say.

* “Social Figuration” at the University Art Gallery at San Diego State University through May 13. Gallery hours are noon-4 p.m., Monday, Thursday and Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Natural History Museum is offering a clever and contemporary twist to an ancient art tradition: depicting the seven deadly sins.

This unique little show, integrated into the existing displays in the museum, consists of seven dead ficus trees decorated to illustrate the sins--pride, avarice, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, sloth--and how this behavior affects the environment.

Unfortunately, the execution fell short of the concept.

Artist Mary Lynn Dominguez came up with the idea when she needed to remove seven dead ficus trees from her yard. She invited six other artists, or “sisters in sin” as they refer to themselves, to participate.

The challenge of using a dead tree to represent both a specific vice and its effect on our environment proved too daunting for four of the artists. Mariam Slevers, who illustrated avarice, chose to write a statement saying that we should not transform the environment but allow it to change naturally. Draped across the tree are paper banners that read, “The tree is fragile. Please do not touch. The environment is fragile. Please do not alter.” Her advice is sound, but she didn’t depict avarice.

Laura Crouch had a different kind of problem portraying lust. She wrote in her statement that she felt inhibited by the audience, which is mostly schoolchildren, so she concentrated instead on how our lust defaces nature. Crouch alluded to sensuality by covering the tree with lights and placing it behind a lace curtain rendering it almost imperceptible. Strewn in front, for reasons not readily apparent, are cast body parts.

Ellen Phillips’ predicament was in illustrating how pride affects the environment. Her statement discusses how pride can make a person think that they are so much better than anyone else they don’t have to act to save the environment. The tree is a disappointment, however, in that it is merely wrapped in decorative silver ribbon.

Denise Cline believes that our envy of nature’s creativity has led us to try to dominate it. She writes in her statement that we should approach the environment as a partner rather than a rival. Her depiction of envy is puzzling, though, because she placed the tree in a beautifully built glass and wood box. Etched on it is a parable that states that we should be like the vegetables: without envy or prejudice.

Joan Austin, Tama Dumlao and Mary Lynn Dominguez, however, managed to successfully illustrate how a specific vice can damage the Earth.

Austin placed gluttony on a global scale by papering the ficus tree with world maps and constellation guides and creating wonderful praying mantises with human faces.

The box frame for sloth, as depicted by Dumlao, looks like the exterior of a ramshackle house. The screen door is ripped, the mailbox is filled with junk mail, and the tree itself has a bird nest with broken eggs. Resting against it is the torso of a human skeleton. Dumlao puts us in the scenario by placing a mirror where the screen is ripped. Thus, when we look into the room, we see ourselves.

Dominguez represented wrath with various types of imagery on beautiful hand-decorated fabric stretched across the box the tree is in. According to the artist, our wrath is seen in our need to conquer the environment. Among the images represented are the death of nature, portrayed by a dying green leaf, and industrialization and urban growth represented by buildings.

Placing the seven deadly sins within a timely and important contemporary context is ingenious. It’s too bad that all of the messages weren’t better executed.

* “Seven Deadly Sins” at the San Diego Natural History Museum through May 10. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday, and 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.