Peeling Through Batiste’s Layers of Ambiguity

New York-based artist Sheila Batiste’s show at the little Watts Towers Art Center puts one in mind of a shy young woman trying hard to be pleasant while recounting a really nasty experience.

The title, “Colored, Rocked Then Shocked,” sets a stage for ambiguity. Does “Colored” refer to race or hue? Does “Rocked” talk about cradling, fornication or rock ‘n’ roll? Is “Shocked” of the electric or dismayed variety?

The show’s largest visual component is a projected video montage. Its pale coloration cross-fades images of an old-fashioned soft-drink bottle, a pair of lips and exterior details of a modest brick house against some blurry background soul music. The only place to sit in the projection room (besides the floor) is an ornate wooden rocking chair.

Out in the gallery, a series of small drawings recaps the video and introduces two new motifs: folded pieces of paper containing powder and the advertising slogan for an evidently vanished headache remedy, “Take a BC Powder and You Come Back Strong.”

Nearby are two life-size iconic drawings of a motherly-looking black woman. Her clothes and accessories are rendered with just a pencil outline--making them white-on-white against backgrounds. Faces and arms are dark with detail.

Finally, a small, storyboard format sketches domestic scenes with such obvious pleasure and calm it’s a surprise to find the caption “Shoot in Head/Someone Shot Me in the Head,” followed by the motherly figure being forced into a straitjacket by two white males in trench coats.

By now Batiste’s jigsaw-puzzle scenario appears autobiographical. Inescapably poignant as it jells into insight, its highly controlled imagery and oblique communication enrich the drama but risk losing the audience in the process.

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* “Colored, Rocked Then Shocked,” Watts Towers Art Center, 1727 E. 107th St.; through July 2, (213) 847-4646, closed Mondays.