Here are a few good art shows closing on 10/31/15 in Culver City worth checking out:

Robb Putnam’s impressive animal sculptures (above image) are at Walter Maciel Gallery for the exhibition Loiterers.

From the press release-

Putnam continues to create whimsical sculptures made out of fabrics, detritus and a plethora of disregarded items that explore memory and recollections of childhood storybook characters and imaginary friends.  His animal subjects take on the moods and emotions of the human experience with specific gesturing of posture and bodily expression.  Using this thoughtful process and personal reflection to execute the work, Putnam himself becomes a loiterer delving into his youth with his learned emotional maturity perhaps mimicking his own apprehension as a young boy circling the sidelines of the playground where he felt unwelcome. The work in Loiterers sparks ideas of what gives a living being or object its status and value while questioning the many notions of human empathy.

Michael Waugh’s drawings at Von Lintel Gallery are even more incredible up close when you see they are created from tiny handwritten text. (images via their website)

From the gallery website-

Waugh transcribes texts—such as government commissions and theoretical books about power and capitalism—into portraits and landscapes.  To Waugh, the selection of texts and images and the relationship between the two are the conceptual heart of the work.  “These are worlds made of words that draw upon a historical quest for knowledge and for political progress—a quest often at odds with social reality,” he explains. Waugh also explores these themes through mixed-media installations, performances, and videos, as in “The Wealth of Nations” project (2009-) for which he has staged (and documented) public readings from Adam Smith’s seminal economic text.

Joel Otterson’s Needleworks at Maloney Fine Art -“explores two new bodies of work; two-dimensional beaded “paintings” and three-dimensional hand-blown glass “flesh cups” which serve as a homage to the diversity, dexterity and tradition of sewing, stitching and embroidery.”