At Beyond Baroque 681 N. Venice Blvd, Venice CA 90291. Gallery & Bookstore are open Fridays & Saturdays from 12 - 6 p.m. and Wednesdays & Thursdays 2 - 6 p.m. by appointment. For appointments call Ph: 310-822-3006

The present work, created expressly for the Proxy Gallery and titled “In dicey times… voting matters most!” combines symbolism and literalism to powerful effect: The title already prefigures a contradiction: Dice, the aleatory, stand for chance, while voting stands for the strong desire to make a difference in the outcome of the elections. Both these versions are true: the elections could go this way or that, but what is at stake is democracy itself.

The exhibition is accompanied by a postcard designed by the media duo Sally Stein and Stephen Callis, AKA “Las Terminas” who have been presenting political postcards and other agitprop graphics intermittently for decades. This card derives from the famous etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters by the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco de Goya modified with graphic intervention by Stein and Callis of Trump and his followers.

Goya believed that the arts come from a union of reason with imagination, but when reason is abandoned, we can expect the monstrous to take over. Like the original etching, the exhibition combines both humorous elements with sinister repercussions.

A sheet of mylar unfurls from the “ceiling” to the back “wall” to the front of the “floor” of the gallery. In it we can see our own distorted image while on the left side is an image of protest from 2020 when Trump was hoping to repeat his 2016 electoral victory to claim the presidency--but failed.

On the right side is the mashup of Goya’s Sleep of Reason with reference, among other things, to the storming on the capitol as instigated by Trump and his people in an attempt to simply seize power. Viewers here are welcome to scour the related postcard for various signs from Trump rallies in support of “fetal personhood,” mass deportation of immigrants, demonic slurs against homosexuals and claims that “god is Pro Life.”

The current election is up for grabs as signified by Stein’s decision to leave the “floor” empty except for a pair of dice.

Copies of the printed postcard by Las Terminas can be purchased at the Beyond Baroque Bookstore for $1 each. All proceeds benefit Beyond Baroque.