"Females carry the marks, language and nuances of their culture more than the male," Wangechi Mutu has said. "Anything that is desired or despised is always placed on the female body." So it should come as no surprise that this Kenyan-born artist uses images cut from women's fashion magazines in her complicated, beautiful collages that examine gender and cultural identity issues. Think of her as the kinder, gentler Kara Walker.

"Little Touched," her show at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects on view through May 3rd, is a playful collection of new drawings, collages and sculptures. Alongside violent, media-driven works such as "A'gave you," a large-scale mixed-media piece that features the explosive figure of a woman's collaged body, are smaller, more delicate drawings on paper like "You pretty, no you pretty," a duo in which vegetation, leopard skin, and a human figure join with colorful stains to create something that resembles a face. Installation pieces, such as the tiny, shimmering mountains arranged on the floor of one room, or the plastic bag "soccer balls" dangling from the ceiling in another, challenge the way the viewer interacts with the gallery space and add an additional element of whimsy to her visceral collection.

But in the end there's nothing fun about what Mutu's beautiful mutants are trying to tell us: Whether they are the victims of old school brutality or modern day surgical enhancement, her decorative female subjects look strikingly the same. Pretty to look at or not, that's a hard pill to swallow.

Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects is located at 5795 Washington Boulevard, (323) 933-2117.

- Caroline Stanley

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Similar Topics:art, galleries, gender

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