With crafty charm belying provocative content, Lara Schnitger‘s textile collages strike a unique balance between daintiness and mordancy. One of the first pictures you’ll find in her show, “Victory Garden” at Grice Bench, is a portrait titled Judith (all works 2019), which portrays a smartly bedecked woman resting her hands primly on a grimacing severed head, presumably that of Holofernes. This picture’s blocky construction of patterned fabric only enhances its creepy effect. In order to access most of the show, you must pass through White Widow, an eerie spiderweb lattice of stockings stretching from floor to ceiling. Beyond this barrier lies a lair of looming 3D creatures cobbled together of wood, fabric and undergarments. Many of these recall Schnitger’s “Slut-stick” series of sculptures in “Suffragette City,” a feminist performance art parade she has spearheaded in numerous cities over the past few years. In this show, the sculptures seem as faceless, bodiless she-monster puppets about to move at any moment. In pieces such as I Am Evil, sticks act as skeletons for grotesquely overstretched lingerie underneath which no vestige of skin may be found, making a mockery of contradictory notions that shape popular societal conceptions of women. In humorous contrast with the sculptures’ rakish clunkiness, velvet pictures such as Last Night sport trim, elegant silhouettes. Brimming with cheeky connotations, Schnitger’s diverse forms and motley fabrics coalesce into a compellingly complex picture of femininity.

Grice Bench
3423 Casitas Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90039
Show runs through Mar. 31