“Phranc: The Butch Closet” at the Craig Krull Gallery is a joyous celebration of a Los Angeles icon. The ambitious exhibit, which includes work and documentation from the past forty years, illuminates how Phranc and her music—she identifies herself as the “All-American Jewish Lesbian folk singer”—have been embraced by multiple constituencies while she has actively maintained a deeply committed studio practice, recreating objects from her life in what becomes a moving autobiography.

The visual art shares with her music a stance of pleasure and joy. Though it delves into childhood memories, it is not nostalgic—the means of making, the carefully constructed brown paper and gouache-painted objects, act as a brake on that. Instead, the surfaces work as ruminations on how we use objects to create meaning and identity in daily life. They are sculptures that are appreciated by those who understand their lineage in artists such as Claes Oldenburg, and they are completely accessible to people who have just stepped into a gallery for the first time. It’s a wonderful achievement. The sculptures are exquisite: a child’s jacket with a beautiful blue and gold plaid, a spinning red dress (whose title includes the words: “Please don’t make me wear this.”)

Phranc’s art is not naïve, the singalongs and straightforward presentations notwithstanding. She acknowledges that the world is not always our best friend, that good does not always triumph—and then states that there is all the more reason for us to sing, to make art and to find happiness in small joys and companionship. I can’t think of a better resource for us in the dark times we currently are wading through. When so much of our culture seems irreparably fractured, it is a great balm to see a person whose work brings diverse communities together.

Archive Room Installation, “The Butch Closet,” 2023.

Craig Krull Gallery
2525 Michigan Avenue #B3
Santa Monica, CA 90404
On view through December 2, 2023