Eileen Cowin‘s solo exhibition at As Is comprises eight photographic works chosen from two series, “Mad Love,” and “Kafka’s Diary.” Each of Cowin’s pictures cleverly pairs two disparate photos whose strange vertical abutment evokes emotion and suggests open-ended narratives. Nature and artifice, contemplation and despair, new and old, technology and tradition are pitted against one another in these stark juxtapositions simmering with latent significance; the longer you look, the more potential stories you will find. In Mad Love: Only a Vague Hope (2015, pictured above), a chipper songbird perches next to a somber scene of a door barred by a chair; at first glance, the avian appears sprightly and free, but its stiff taxidermy pose and painted background indicate that it is likely part of a diorama. From Kafka’s Diary (2017) presents a captive school of fish swimming in lucid water beside a woman holding a cloth to her face amid smoky environs. These scenarios seem to ask, “Who is more confined, the people or the animals?” In the gallery beyond Cowin’s show is a thoughtfully curated exhibition of works on paper by eight artists. Most memorably, Ron Griffin confers an eerie grace upon a most improbable subject—toilet seat covers, which he has folded like origami and painstakingly painted in white enamel against rich black paper. Jennifer Celio‘s pencil drawings imagine a not-so-fictional world where forests envelop cell phone towers and real trees are caged beside signs reading “Do Not Touch.” Both of these shows offer much to contemplate.

As Is
1133 Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Shows run through Jul. 27