In the Galleries - Two Sides of a 45 CLOSES March 9 at Des Lee Gallery

Though it ranges from sculpture to video to painting, this show of work by three graduates of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts — organized by fellow alum Brandon Anschultz — coheres wonderfully in its exuberant dismantling of the multivalent nature of abstraction. Using blackened sand and sparkling flecks of mica, Lisha Bai creates slender columns in stoical arrangements that echo the Modernist formalism of ancient sites. Jane Fox Hipple crafts paintings that nearly look inside themselves for their sculptural potential: One features a small round mirror affixed to its center like a navel; another consists of a trompe l'oeil canvas cast in plaster and presented on a shelf. In a kaleidoscopic video installation projected onto a far corner of the gallery, J. Michael Deane explores the interior of his wildly colored, mirror-bestrewn home. The artist has placed a row of mirrors adjacent to the projection, positioning them so they re-reflect the reflections captured in the video — a brilliantly over-the-top gesture that Deane manages to exceed by re-presenting the video images on a series of flat-screen monitors and smaller, overlapping projections on the opposite wall of the gallery. Yes, everything has its flipside — as does every flipside. But as this exhibit repeatedly demonstrates, even the subtlest shift can reveal startling alternatives. Through March 9 at the Des Lee Gallery, 1627 Washington Avenue (University Lofts Building); 314-621-8735 or www.desleegallery.com. Hours: 1-6 p.m. Wed., Fri..-Sat.

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