Shana Lutker’s exhibition of new work at Susanne Vielmetter is best understood in the context of her wider oeuvre, which of late has been singularly concerned with the 1920s Surrealists. Each of Lutker’s “chapters” juxtaposes her spare, minimal and conceptual visual vocabulary with her subject matter—an avant-garde prone to public violence and theatrics.

This chapter, “Paul, Paul, Paul, and Paul,” concerns a 1925 dinner party intended to honor poet and diplomat Paul Claudel, to whom the Surrealists objected for his critical words on modern art. They placed rude letters under guests’ plates and later insulted the conservative, well-heeled partygoers; verbal sparring led to food fights, physical violence, and destruction of property. Lutker tells this story through suggestion. The entry gallery wall features five large geometric shapes of paper with appropriate titles such as Dear M. Square and Dear M. Diamond (all works 2015). The shapes reference not only modernist iconography but also the paper the letters were written on. Their mauve color carries over into Paul, Paul, Paul, and Paul, a grid of paper napkins hung on another wall. Each of the 35 napkins has the word “Paul” inscribed on it, with repetition reinforcing the fervency of the Surrealists’ claims of authenticity.

Shana Lutker “The Average Mysterious Interrupted “, 2015, Courtesy of Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Photo: Robert Wedemeyer.

The dinner party is also alluded to in five pieces of wood furniture, each embodying the Surrealist concern with making the everyday uncanny. Familiar objects such as tables and chairs are rendered unusable and disconcerting; As Many Versions as Witnesses, no. 5 attaches a table top to the back of a chair, while As Many Versions as Witnesses, no. 2 turns a marble table top on its back, its hard fixtures pointing upward. Ceramic plates rest on each piece, but they are also functionless, as they fold and droop Dali-style off the sculptures.

Other works directly reference one of Lutker’s earlier chapters on another Surrealist altercation, this time at a lecture on literature in a Parisian theater. Attractive Fool is a mirrored surface with the words “I Have Dreamed of You So Much Surely There is No More Time to Wake Up” inscribed, which light up every few seconds. Taken from a poem by Surrealist poet Robert Desnos, the words allude to the Surrealists’ interest in dream analysis and new modes of perception and being. The Average Mysterious Interrupted is a low, irregular wooden staircase with nine graphite boots perched atop and alongside. Also a reference to an earlier Lutker piece, it takes familiar objects and renders them surreal and bemusing.

In today’s era of anodyne art intended to appeal to wealthy collectors, Lutker’s fixation on an earlier avant-garde who fervently believed in the transformative power of their art and would defend it with transgressive action and fisticuffs if necessary is certainly compelling. What is also successful here is that even though background knowledge is necessary to fully enjoy the work, the pieces’ superlative craftsmanship and allusive potential are enough to engage the viewer, much like the esoteric Surrealist paintings did in their own day.