Summer Strength

We’re in the depths of summertime, and the living gets lazy in cultural quarters, as elsewhere in society. The machinery gets lax, the workers think of play. It’s only natural.

Over at the Lankershim Arts Center gallery, for instance, the regular gallery hours--already on the sparse side--have become extra spotty.

All is not lost, though. Although we might expect something called “Summer Show,” at the gallery through early September, to embody the no-brainer traits of summerthink, as perhaps an idle space-filler before the fall, it contains surprising strengths. The exhibition is worth the effort to check out.

The work in this annual show is by board members of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society, the organization that controls the gallery.

No particular theme ties the art here into a tidy package, but certain subthemes emerge, such as a group of slightly edgy, satirical figurative works, or pieces that toy with mythology of biblical or art history proportions.

Perhaps the most alluring work here belongs in its own distinct little corner. Elaine Brandt’s “Boys Play/Lonesome Pines” basks in a dreamlike narrative ambience.

Mostly, the pines in question are both lonesome and desecrated, as spindly and charred remains after a fire.

In the midst of the forested wreckage is a boxing ring, and young boxers--the only color elements in the composition--have at it in this unexpected setting. It’s a subtle, moody piece in which the combined tensions of its pugilists in action, the post-fire thicket and the oddness of the pairing invite us into an enigma.

Ellen Starr goes for a more familiar setting, taken cheekily out of context. “Big Orange Allegory” subverts the scenario of Eve’s temptation with the apple and the snake, localizing the tale. Naturally, the apple becomes an orange, tempting a Barbie-doll Eve, with the “HOLLYWOOD” sign visible on yonder hill.

The piece is just audacious enough, and just assured enough in the handling, to transcend the potential kitsch of the effort.

The print medium’s heritage for social and political satire, stretching back in history past Daumier, is perpetuated here via John Powers’ piece, “Korea, 1952: Why We Fight.”

Tanks and troops form the background, protecting such American interests and icons as the Jolly Green Giant, a dancing Old Gold cigarette girl and a bra model.

Art history rears its hoary head in Belle Osipow’s “Mama Lisa,” in which Leonardo da Vinci’s famed femme is seen cradling a daughter, also blessed with the same half-worldly, half-beatific gaze.

Not all the work in the show goes to places of such winking irony. Barbara Salamitro’s “Self Realization Variation 4,” for all the New Age-ishness of its title, is a sturdy enough abstraction with nods to Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline.

A Van Gogh-like visual brusqueness and vulnerable beauty pops up in Anita Klebanof’s landscape diptych, and P.G. Norman’s still life finds tranquil reflection and simple profundity in the form of onions.

In short, this is a summer show, a sampler with nothing more on its mind than dusting off works for public view. And, considering the provocative art seen here, that’s enough.

BE THERE

“Summer Show,” through Sept. 12 at the Lankershim Arts Center gallery, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. August gallery hours vary, or by appointment; (818) 752-2682.

No particular theme ties the art here into a tidy package, but certain subthemes emerge.