“Torsos & Buckets: Amy Bessone, Matthias Merkel Hess”

The title for this show of ceramic works by two L.A. artists pretty much says it all: Bessone presents a series of full-figured female torsos in fired clay, while Hess offers copies of joint compound buckets made in porcelain and stoneware. Each artist takes a painterly approach to applying glazes, and each has constructed their respective objects as hollow, open vessels, creating a dialectical tension between functionality and art.