Balancing Act

A little world of wonder, sad and otherwise, greets visitors to the Village Square Gallery in Montrose, where Frank Gutierrez is showing his fascinating mixed-media assemblages.

Gutierrez fashions small, imaginative pieces from wood, metal and found objects with a clear sense of how different elements work together and avoiding the willy-nilly pastiche effect sometimes encountered in mixed media.

The buzz of storytelling, albeit ambiguous, underscores the confident craftiness of his work. His cast of characters manages to be glum and humorous simultaneously.

A clown balances the world on his head in “Atlas.” In the striking circus scene “Blue Illusion,” another clown on the verge of tears, laughter or both projects a bittersweet lunacy. Life here is a circus, pathetic and proud, in the realm of absurdity.

A similar spirit is reflected in a bulbous-nosed wooden man propped in a casket in “Dead Little Artist.” Another poker-faced man with a conical dunce cap dons a metal tag in “Cell 52,” suggesting in a tiny package the melancholic mental ward whimsy of the film “King of Hearts.”

These pieces cut across aesthetic party lines, alluding to the simplicity and wit of folk art and to religious or cultural artifacts from other traditions in the world.

Always, though, they come equipped with the artist’s casual, semi-comical spin. A Mayan figure is woven into “The Pointer,” and the Japanese figure in “Mysterious Path” turns the piece into a Zen tchotchke. “Praying Dog” is just that, a supplicant pooch.

As an artist, Gutierrez manages the careful balancing act of mixing fatalistic humor, metaphorical veneers and an impressive command of his own artistic means.

Also in the gallery are ceramic works by Jim Buchanan Gonzalez, who shows a rugged sense of design and surface treatment using soda-fired clay. Bowls with rough, twisted bases seem to have been yanked from the ground, enhancing the connection to earthy materials.

BE THERE

Frank Gutierrez and Jim Buchanan Gonzalez, through June 26 at Village Square Gallery, 2418 Honolulu Ave., Suite C, Montrose. Gallery hours: 1-5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. (818) 244-4257.