Emily Counts‘ sculptures appear suspended at an intriguing juncture of covetable fashion and female shamanism. Of motley materials and contrasting forms, Counts’ esoteric abstract shapes evoke mystical amulets or dreamcatchers; while their candy-hued glossy surfaces insinuate commodified desire. Titled “The Association,” her current show at Garboushian is organized around a theme of connectivity in allusion to computers, telecommunication, social networks, mysticism and mythology. Most of Counts’ sculptures consist of two ceramic focal points connected by chains, rope or wood and accented by bits of stained glass, minerals, beach rock, acrylic sheets or hardware. These composite configurations coil like shopwindow snakes and dangle like necklaces, their chained duality recalling body jewelry such as navel rings or Indian nose chains. Stoneware and porcelain elements frequently protrude from walls as though eccentric altar shelves. In Make Love (all works 2017), a painterly cone and a cylinder, appearing as bizarre medieval cookware, hang from a sawhorse. Counts’ aesthetic is reminiscent of Vicki Noble and Karen Vogel’s “Motherpeace,” a 1970’s feminist tarot deck re-popularized by a recent Dior line. Inklings of precariousness emerge as daggers in Galactic Balance and Danger Pleasure, a cobweb in The Collectors (pictured above) and a severed hand in Complicated Dream. Like “Motherpeace” and Dior’s accessories it inspired, Counts’ sculptures are pretty but edgy, their comely facades belying dangerous potential.

Garboushian Gallery
427 N. Camden Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Show runs through Jan. 12, 2018