Adventures in the surreal world

Although Hollywood occasionally overstates the influence of its wares -- particularly during this, the season of awards shows -- movies inspired artists Martin Ontiveros and Donovan Crosby to do more than buy popcorn.

The work by these two young painters, currently featured in the exhibition “Risen” at Sixspace Gallery, may seem drastically different, but both of them drew inspiration from cinema and its treatment of ancient myths and the occult.

Crosby’s lushly detailed figures from Creole folklore are the macabre antithesis of the doe-eyed “Precious Moments” collectibles: bloodthirsty young zombies, baby-faced devils and grinning skeletons. Surrounded by grand wood frames, her gauzy images take on an air of antiquity, as if they might adorn the office walls of a New Orleans mortician.

“I don’t know what the attraction is, but I think that part of country has such a rich, beautiful aesthetic,” she says. “Plus I just can’t draw happy little characters.”

That’s not to suggest her paintings aren’t without a sense of humor. In “Bones and Teeth” a sharply dressed skeleton steps into or out of a crocodile’s gaping mouth, depending upon your perspective. The ghostly figure’s top hat and tails combine with the lizard’s cartoonish stripes to add a streak of whimsy that would make Tim Burton proud.

“I went to school to study animation, so I tend to watch films for their imagery,” she explains. “A lot of Ridley Scott, a lot of Wes Anderson, anywhere the visuals are very strong.”

In Crosby’s equally striking “L’heure d’Absinthe,” a solemn little girl dressed not unlike Little Bo Peep sits at a table bathed in luminous emerald light, a half-empty bottle in front of her. She bows her head, but out from under the tablecloth stretches a pair of bony legs, leaving little doubt of this drinking game’s outcome.

“I once heard a saying about sitting down for tea with your demons and then getting up and leaving,” she says. “I thought it would be great if instead someone could just drink all their demons under the table.”

Crosby, who is the daughter of musician David Crosby, graduated from CalArts in 1997 and considers this her maiden voyage into the world of painting. But she is still at a loss to explain what draws her to such ghoulish material.

“There’s a theory where an artist is a like a conduit, a conductor, for a certain kind of energy.” She pauses and reconsiders. “That’s a sort of hippie-ish, new age way of explaining it, but ... I’m trying to run with it.”

Ontiveros’ re-imagining of the golem legend has less mysterious roots. Long fascinated with robots, his work gained new focus upon seeing the 1915 silent film “Der Golem.”

Though inspired by the story of the clay giant who was brought to life by oppressed 16th century Jews, Ontiveros’ candy-colored golems have a more futuristic sheen, with cracked features and a second, gap-toothed face grimacing from the chest. These oversized robots are sent to destroy an imagined race Ontiveros dubbed “the grubs.” Menacing but soft and bubbly in appearance, the grubs ultimately defeat the golems in a series of paintings. Finally, as depicted in the vengeful “Kill the Creator,” the defeated giants turn on their masters.

“Every culture has a myth where someone gives life to something that’s inanimate, and the result is always the same,” the Portland, Ore.-based Ontiveros says. “It works for a while, but inevitably the creature turns against its creator.”

Sharply rendered with eye-popping colors, Ontiveros’ work is clearly influenced by his early love for comic books as well as a fondness for Japanese monster movies like “Godzilla” or the TV series “Ultraman.” Yet for all these touchstones in icons and folklore of the past, his scenes of mechanized destruction have striking modern parallels.

“These pieces are about using extreme measures against something that isn’t a threat. For instance, you could argue whether we’re actually winning the war in Iraq, but we do have more weapons,” he says. “In a perfect world, it would work like my paintings where the oppressors would invade with their big machinery and get whipped.

“That’s how you see it in movies, at least,” he adds. “Even in a nice Disney feature when a machine goes against nature, nature always wins.”

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‘Risen’

Paintings by

Martin Ontiveros and Donovan Crosby

Where: Sixspace Gallery, 549 W. 23rd St., downtown L.A.

Hours: Tuesdays-Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m.

Ends: Feb. 28

Contact: (213) 765-0248 or www.sixspace.com