Art review: Alexis Zoto at Overtones

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The bittersweet pang of days gone by is not easy to capture in art. Alexis Zoto’s sculptures and monotypes at Overtones are too generic to give such nuanced sentiments their due. Visitors are left with a general sense of standard-issue melancholy, which fades all too quickly because it lacks specificity and precision.

Zoto makes found-object assemblages out of lacy doilies, old jewelry, a religious statue, a family member’s oven, broken furniture, ostrich feathers, buttons, branches and artificial birds. These objects probably mean much to Zoto, who recently changed her surname from Weidig to her mother’s maiden name.

But they do not go far enough to convey the particularities of their passions, glossing over the conflicted combination of regret and indebtedness that forms any contemplative individual’s relationship to her past.

Zoto’s prints, depicting the silhouettes of little birds in faded pinks, blues and greens, also come off as clichés. Like her sculptures, they’re too bland to do much more than scratch the surface.

– David Pagel

Overtones, 12703 Venice Blvd., (310) 915-0346, through Nov. 7. Closed Sunday-Tuesday. www.overtonesgallery.com

“Muse” by Alexis Zoto. Image courtesy of Overtones gallery. Photo credit: Alan Shaffer