The Valley

If you can imagine a gold--bespeckled, three-dimensional Hollywood version of Neolithic ruins you get a rough feel for constructions by Lynne Westmore. Using armatures, twigs, fragments of fabric and paper covered with rainbow colors, Westmore constructs faux shamanistic figures. There are Bulls’ heads and tiny twigs for outstretched limbs. Mask--like faces look anything but primal. They ride dolphins, giraffes and leopards.

Despite technical acumen and a penchant for theater (Westmoreland painted the 60-foot nude on a cliff over the Malibu Canyon tunnel) the net effect here is cosmetic, like a Las Vegas staging of “The Dawn of Man.” She uses her visceral energy best in odd constructions of wild dogs in battle. With bodies crafted as flat drawings and heads molded in the round to jut aggressively into our space, the gritty canines have a brutal, believable rhythm. (Orlando Gallery, 14553 Ventura Blvd., to April 29.)