However ordinary an entity may seem, Torbjørn Rødland will find a way to pose it, light it and accent it so as to produce, as if by alchemy, an uncanny photo that gradually unhinges you the more you gaze. See, for instance, Voodoo Shoe (2017, pictured above), which could initially be dismissed as a generic photo of a stiletto posed for a fashion ad. It’s not until you notice the leaden nails brutishly puncturing the pump’s lacy top, having chipped holes in its glittery sole, that you realize there is more afoot than couture in this unsettling tableau. Such images are rife with dissonant symbolism that cumulates as you study each picture in relation to the others. “Backlit Rainbow,” the title of the Norwegian photographer’s show at David Kordansky, alludes to lighting and color choices as well as a series of wistful, stiffly posed pictures recreating scenes from “Boys Love,” a homoerotic Japanese comic incongruously authored by women. Rødland’s inexplicable photos invite you to conjecture stories: Might the eerily grinning gent in Portrait with Yellow Tie (2016-2018) be the perpetrator of bloody brutality in No Climax (2007-2018)? Has the voodoo shoe anything to do with sickly feet on a nearby wall? Will Boone‘s image mélanges also suggest open-ended narratives within “Garage,” an installation appearing as though it could double as a secret society headquarters. Sculptures, miniature dioramas, and paintings conflate superheroes, rattlesnakes and monsters inside Boone’s intriguingly shivery carport clubhouse in which you may be relieved that you lack membership. Both artists squeeze elusive nuance from loaded emblems.

David Kordansky Gallery
5130 W. Edgewood Pl.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
Shows run through Jul. 7