The Barrett Art Gallery at Santa Monica College (1310 Eleventh St., SM 90401) features the art of Lisa Adams, Kelly McLane, on view thru March 28, 2020. Read a review by one of our staff writers HERE.

Exhibition view: photo by Kirk Pedersen,

Unreality has become the everyday in our world. Plain facts are derided as “fake news,” and truth has been trumped by “truthiness.” Day after day, one inconceivable revelation follows another, as perplexing as a hall of mirrors, until the very foundations of reality seem to tremble and shift. It’s tempting to imagine that we have become ensnared in a fiction, a somewhat farcical but disturbing fantasy on a parallel timeline—but most novelists would likely consider this plot so outlandish as to beggar belief.

The work of artists Lisa Adams and Kelly McLane is not strictly about the objects they represent, because on the surface, the images often appear ordinary. Instead, their work concerns itself with subverting the viewer’s assumptions about what they know, and revealing that ultimately, that perceived reality does not add up. Though both artists work in uniquely distinctive ways, their art is bound together by a common thread—the collision between the natural world and the destructive actions of humanity. While they operate within the terrain of dystopia and cast their eye to the pending apocalypse, their work still offers hope. Rarely do their artworks make explicit sense; they invite questions, but they don’t answer them. Instead, they incite the viewer to consider various points of view—to wonder why these particular images were juxtaposed, or why they were created in the first place. Anomaly is more the standard than an exception within their work, and the purposes of these peculiarities are wide-ranging. They present stories to be intuited, but ones that likely leave viewers still wondering in the end.

On view: February 18, 2020 – March 28, 2020; Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 11:00am to 4:00pm and by appointment.

Where: Santa Monica College, Barrett Art Gallery, 1310 Eleventh St., Santa Monica, 90401
Phone: (310) 434-3434
Website: www.smc.edu/Barrett