“Politics and Theater” by Ariel Parkinson
Where: House of Seiko
When: Through Oct. 31
Why It’s Worth A Look: Combining paintings, theatrical design, photographs, and archival materials from the 1950s through to the ’80s, this exhibition paints a deft portrait of the late Ariel Parkinson’s political surrealism. Her demonic and anthropomorphized figures reimagined classical and experimental theater—from Shakespeare to Maurice Maeterlinck—and mythological tales into grotesque critiques of militarism, pollution, and nationalism.
Know Before You Go: As a scenographer in Berkeley, California, Parkinson spent time working on productions that included The Tempest, Ondine, Rilke’s Elegies, Madame Butterfly, Otello, Le Cid, and Carmina Burana.