Thank God for Mernet Larsen, making art for decades because her life depends on it! Her recent show at Various Small Fires attests to a fiercely independent and imaginative spirit, one that is not swayed by the newest fashion or art world fickleness. She is the “real deal” as they say, and these oddly enigmatic, completely unique paintings made largely from acrylic and tracing paper on canvas, stand as testament that truly important art is still being made. Works like Handshake are at once unsettling, yet incredibly seductive as two figures stand facing one another—strangely connected through what appears to be either disillusionment or awkwardness—yet there they are, like all of us,  having to contend with each other.

Various Small Fires
812 North Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90038
Mernet Larsen
Chainsawer, Bicyclist, and Reading in Bed
Show runs through April 11, 2015