Elizabeth Berdann’s motherly, painterly sense of humor

ELIZABETH BERDANN’S “SMILEY”

DDR Projects opened in August with a show of designer toys-made-art—and owner John Geldbach explaining how this was nevertheless an art gallery. (Sometimes, you still have to say that.) “Crybaby,” Elizabeth Berdann’s exhibition of pop realist oils, is all the proof he needs—and she does it with severed digits, abominable snowmen, and bacon. Mmm, bacon.

Berdann, who comes to DDR after 15 years of group and solo shows, tells something of her family’s story and invites you into her life, while carefully keeping her distance. Much of her saga is written on two series of tiny faces.

In Crybabies, Berdann paints the faces of her daughter, and her daughter’s friends—all crying. It’s amazing: some look like little girls, but many look like old men. You’d swear you’re seeing Ernest Borgnine or a Ragtime-era James Cagney in there somewhere.

And then it gets a bit creepy, when you realize Berdann has painted the faces on those giant pill container capsules they used to sell—and attached doll legs to them, making them into dolls.

Elsewhere, Berdann’s Flower series delivers more little people—their happy, hopeful faces the centers of pink flowers. It’s off-kilter: they’re happy—but they’re flowers. But they’re people.

Even more unsettling is Story, a series of tiny oils—of scissors, teeth, a spaniel, a potato, her daughter—set in jeweler’s installations and somehow telling a story. Of her family? And how? You have to decide.

The rest of the show is plainly hilarious. American Gag is all immaculate oils of novelties; Severed Thumb is one, Doggie Doo another. And in Townspeople, an installation that’s yours for the asking (price)—$10,000—Berdann paints human eyes on a series of yeti and repurposed elf toys from the 1964 cult classic Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It’s awesome. Can yetis be the new Santa Claus? Please?

CRYBABY: THE WORK OF ELIZABETH BERDANN DDR PROJECTS | 1532 E BROADWAY | LONG BEACH 90802 | 562.590.9030 | DDRPROJECTS.COM | OPEN WED-FRI NOON-8PM; SAT 11AM-6PM; SUN 11AM-5PM | THROUGH DEC 14 | FREE

Tags: art, ddr projects, severed thumb, visual art