MARGARET WHARTON long has worked in a variety of media, many dazzling to the eye and best described as showy — shiny glass jewels, sparkling shoes, resin-coated paint squares and circles that also resemble baubles. But her mixed-media works, many three-dimensional, should not be categorized as decorative. Her artwork, particularly the 13 works on view in her solo show at the Jean Albano Gallery, puts Wharton firmly in the realm of the cerebral artist. Her works are complex in their conception and in the processes she uses. She takes ordinary objects, deconstructs and reformulates them into new, novel dimensions, and zaps us with serious as well as humorous messages. “Strand,” the largest work in the show, consists of a necklace of wooden dowels and styrofoam and cardboard “pearls,” atop a 4-by-10-foot long white platform, ready for picking up and wearing, except for its enormous size and weight. In spite of its playful title, “Pair-A-Dice” is among the more somber works, consisting of a wedding shoe within a traveling cage, perhaps a metaphor for Wharton’s view of marriage and for the bride or groom as the hunted prey. “The Groom/Fodder/Mutt-r” includes one of Wharton’s favorite subjects — a real book titled “Marcel Duchamp” that she has cut apart and reassembled with a “comb” that was cut from the cover and pages to suggest that some who view Duchamp’s art may comb through or overanalyze it — exactly what is so tempting to do with Wharton’s sculptures. At the Jean Albano Gallery, 215 W. Superior St, through Oct. 11.
Michael K. Paxton’s tough representational oils on canvas and his gesso/charcoal drawings suggest his subjects are at work because of the grimy settings, their everyday worn, wrinkled clothing and their active poses. Many have clenched fists. But Paxton resists giving us too much information. He turns figures away from the viewer so that we do not see their faces. He rarely puts tools in their hands, and he only suggests a railroad or coal mine — doing so with the briefest of lines — then places his figures and settings in empty but richly painted or drawn backgrounds. Nevertheless, even with this abbreviated style, we understand, aided by his title of “Working Fossils.” Work can dehumanize people and certain types of work can become obsolete. Paxton writes in an artist statement, “I strive to make my paintings nice and plain.” On the nice part he succeeds, but these works are far from plain — rather rich and vibrant. At the Byron Roche Gallery, 750 N. Franklin St., through Oct. 10.
Two London outsider artists can be seen in the Judy Saslow Gallery show titled “London Calling: The World is Listening.” One of them is Albert Louden, who has an unusual style. With watercolor and pastel, two sensuous media, Louden strips figures down to bare essentials but gives us a result that is hardly minimalist. He places his figures in imaginative poses, tilting a head just so; he builds a palette that is rich and soothing. The results, though contemporary in feeling, remind us of Modigliani’s spare, striking figures. At Judy A. Saslow Gallery, 300 W. Superior St., through Oct.4.