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Eclectic Mix Of Abstract, Off-Kilter Exhibits At Real Art Ways

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Rita Valley is many things: a wage slave, a bottom feeder, a loser. She admits this.

“I don’t make my living off my art. People ask me if I sell everything in my show. I say no, that’s not why I do it,” Valley says. “I see that look on their face, ‘What a loser.’ So I say fine, I’m a beautiful loser.”

Valley, of Southbury, puts these phrases at the center of off-kilter tapestries. Several of her pieces are on show now at Real Art Ways in Hartford.

Her mix of materials is odd: silk with pleather, plaid with pictoral, accented by fringe, chains, streamers and other doodads.

“I like materials that are alternately beautiful and repulsive. It’s beautiful but also kind of pushing you away,” she says. “If they were just pretty, they wouldn’t be interesting.”

Her bleak phrases are not melancholy but humorously ironic. “I’ve never done a piece saying, ‘Have a nice day.’ I’m really repulsed by overly positive, knee-jerk modern philosophies,” she says. “When someone says, ‘Everything’s just great, be happy,’ I think, ‘Really, come on.'”

“Loser” is one of Rita Valley’s tapestries on show at Real Art Ways.

In another gallery of the art space is an exhibit by five female abstract artists, four painters — Deborah Dancy of Storrs, Janet Lage of Old Lyme, Alyse Rosner of Westport and Amy Vensel of Newtown — and a sculptor, Rosa Valado. Valado’s tall, standing creation made from steel welded fabric mesh and colorful satin ribbons is called “Photoelectric — The Ripple Effect” and is inspired by particle and wave theory.

“I was working with these ideas and using a lot of transparent materials to depict layers of space,” Valado says. “I started exploring with satin ribbons as if it was brush strokes in space.”

A third exhibit features three conceptual artists. Cecil Gresham Sr. of Hartford creates abstracted photographic portraits. Joe Bun Keo of Hartford takes everyday items and isolates them or places them oddly out of context.

Scott Penkava’s piece “For Your On Your Special Day” re-creates an apartment door with items scattered around it, leaving one to wonder, exactly what kind of “special day” did the person behind the door have?

All the artwork was curated by David Borawski.

WAGE SLAVE, DISTRACTED DRIVING and SURFACE WORK are at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St. in Hartford, until Sept. 11. realartways.org