Bubblegum colors and an interest in the mundane are threads that unite the seemingly unrelated pieces in “Pizza, Bagpipe, Carburetor” by Meg Cranston. The show’s conceptual gambit—subject matter selected by Cranston using an internet-hosted random noun generator, an I Ching for the information age—is enlivened by Cranston’s refreshing playfulness that gives her pieces a tangible sense of the humorous. Hickory Rocking Chair (2015), a rocking chair whose seat is composed of bubble wrap, is an excellent example of this humor.

Meg Cranston, Hickory Rocking Chair (2015), courtesy of the artist and Meliksetian | Briggs, Los Angeles.

Many of the works, such as Clock with Left Missing (2015), exist in the world of a philosophical thought experiment as Cranston attempts to convey how a subject with brain damage would illustrate a clock. The results of her conceptual questions are diverse and lively, with some works like the aforementioned appearing illustrative and similar to David Shrigley, while others like Dancer (2016) contain more Pop Art, Warhol-esque qualities.

Meg Cranston, Dancer (2016), courtesy of the artist and Meliksetian | Briggs, Los Angeles.

Although the space inside Meliksetian Briggs gallery is fairly limited, Cranston’s work manages to produce the sensation of being larger on the inside than the outside. The more the viewer questions the contents of the paintings and sculptures, the more one can fall into the work, and therefore the inquisitive mind of the artist. The implied sexuality within many of the works—the naked rear in Dancer, the sculpture Bagpipe (2015) resembling a scrotum with women cutouts surrounding it, the blurred face attached to a scantily clad female in Yellow Cyclone Gray (2015)—suggests Cranston’s thought process when faced with language that is otherwise unprovocative. Cranston seems to be playing with the duality of what exists and what doesn’t through words and the intuitive searching around in the dark for the associative meaning of them, and from that searching comes a heady show that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Meg Cranston, Clock with Left Missing (2015), courtesy of the artist and Meliksetian | Briggs, Los Angeles.

Meg Cranston, “Pizza Bagpipe, Carburetor,” January 23- March 5 at Meliksetian Briggs, 313 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036, www.meliksetianbriggs.com.