SIGHTS AROUND TOWN / THE ART SCENE : One-Man Show Borrows Images of Mexican Culture

At first glance, the show at John Nichols Gallery in Santa Paula seems like a group exhibition focusing on the imagery of Mayan and Mexican culture.

On these walls we find paintings in various styles and with varying perspectives, along with finely detailed pen-and-ink drawings of Mayan artifacts. Native-looking iconographic paintings blend with surreal village scenes and vestiges of folklore.

The fact that all of this work, in fact, comes from the hand of a single artist, Michael D.B. Kelly, attests to the intrigue and the contextual questions hovering over the show.

Kelly is a British artist living in Ventura, but he has a long and passionate interest in the culture and mythology of Mexico. A published illustrator whose deft draughtsmanship has shown up in various reference books, Kelly also lists the roles of musician, ethnomusicologist, anthropologist and Latin American art specialist on his rococo resume.

And such a diverse profile may help explain the many threads that go into the show.

Most prominent in the gallery is the monumental nine-paneled work, “Exodus of the Flintmen,” which consumes most of one wall. Much of the scene is given to depicting a Mayan temple, dream world vegetation and varicolored, symbolic, flint-like creatures.

But creeping into the picture, barely noticeable in the upper right-hand corner, is a Crucifixion. A pale Christ--representing the Spanish/Catholic program of imperialism--is very much on the march.

Historical and political messages are subtly interwoven throughout the show, but not to the point where a revisionist agenda is the show’s guiding principle.

“Warrior” and “Feathered Friends” are less contemporary interpretations than they are benevolent re-creations of Mayan iconography. An innocent village scene, “Old Man of Juaracuaro,” nods to the flat color planes of Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo.

But there along the back wall, almost unnoticed because of its small size and stylized graphic treatment, is the “Mixtec Ritual Sacrifice,” depicting an open-heart sacrificial ritual.

“Battle 1,” too, portrays conflict in an abstracted manner, which distances us from the brunt of combat.

Latin American discontentment of a more modern ilk is the subject of “Puppet Government,” a deceptively tranquil scene in which a quietly mobilizing body politic lurks outside the window of a despot’s home.

An odd sort of punster’s comic relief comes in the form of the large painting, “Pollywood Babylon,” with parrots amid the crumbling ruins.

One of the strongest paintings on view is “The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same.” Here, native characters buzz about the composition in a queasy Breughel-esque dance, with an encroaching colonialist who bears both gifts and visions of exploitation.

Another potent image is “Zapata’s Niche,” with its skeletal revolutionary figure scampering on horseback across an ornate proscenium. The graphic, cartoon-like depiction of Zapata is in irreverent, stark contrast with the rich hues of royal gold and blood red.

But then, points of contrast and contradiction have a field day in Kelly’s show, which is as much about the turbulent landscape of Mexico’s history as it is about art for art’s sake.

A viewer could question the pedigree of the artist as an Anglo clearly adrift from his actual roots.

Is Kelly, in his own benign way, an image imperialist? Or is it the case of an artist who follows his passion to a far corner of the globe, with sympathies and intellect in tow?

After taking it all in, and appreciating the richness of ideas, we’re inclined toward the latter.

Escape Artist

Lee Hodges, the stalwart head of the Buenaventura Art Assn,. is showing her own art at the Ventura County National Bank in Camarillo this month.

Mostly, she is an escapist who tends to fawn over flora. “Homage to Gauguin” is just that, with the visage of a Tahitian woman enveloped in dreamy plant life.

Hodges’ fishy prints are decorative without apology, and a work like “Vanishing Act,” with its opposing poles of parrots versus a pernicious tractor, delivers a heavy-handed ecological message.

At its best, Hodges’ affable art eyeballs familiar tropical scenery and gives it a good twist. In “Tropical Delight” and “A Quiet Day at the Banana Plant,” she reduces foliage to abstract, faceted planes.

The further she gets from the literal, the better off she seems to be.

Pleasant Images

With its wood floor and womb-like ambience, the Santa Paula Depot Gallery is always a rustically pleasant place to visit, regardless of what’s hanging.

The current group show consists mostly of well-mannered Sunday paintings, with a couple of images that manage to stand apart from the pack.

Clara White’s “Pink Elephant” works up a lather of goofy charm. Elva Kauer’s slightly--seemingly accidentally--mystical “Oranges and Mustard” is about local color revisited: pendulous orange trees and a haze of yellow, wild mustard, which proliferates locally around this time of year.

WHERE AND WHEN

* “Myth, Magic and Allegory,” paintings and drawings by Michael D.B. Kelly, through June 12 at the John Nichols Gallery, 910 E. Main St. in Santa Paula. Information: 525-7804.

* Lee Hodges, mixed-media works through May 28 at the Ventura County National Bank, 502 N. Las Posas Road, Camarillo. Information: 482-8811.

* Art Department Student Awards Exhibition through May 14 at the New Media Gallery, Ventura College, 4667 Telegraph Ave., in Ventura. Information: 654-6468.

* Group show through May at the Santa Paula Depot Gallery, 963 E. Santa Barbara St. Information: 525-1104.