Toys are not always about child’s play.
That’s one of the messages of an ambitious toy-themed exhibition at William Havu Gallery, 1040 Cherokee St., in which angst mostly outweighs whimsy and metaphor runs deep.
The show, titled “Toy Stories,” features 42 paintings and sculptures by five individual artists and one artistic duo — all from California, except for Esteban Blanco of Miami and Laurel Swab of Colorado Springs.
Although they are all dealing with the subject of toys in one fashion or another, their technical and stylistic approaches could hardly be more different, and that variety goes far in enlivening this offering.
Among the most striking highlights are four cartoonish, brightly colored works by Phillip Maberry and Scott Walker of Joshua Tree, Calif., which look for all the world like inflatable toys but are actually trompe l’oeil ceramic sculptures.
Blanco’s imaginative, elaborately realized sculptures go off in a multitude of directions, but none is more attention-grabbing than “Toy Spy Plane,” a hanging small-scale reproduction of an SR-71, with dozens of eyes adhered to its bottom.
“Toy Stories” runs through Sept. 3. Free. 303-893-2360 or Kyle Macmillan
