Through Oct. 23

B. Deemer Gallery
2650 Frankfort Ave. • 896-6687
bdeemer.com

The French have a phrase for it — jolie laide (“pretty-ugly”) — meaning something’s not pretty but is still alluring. “Oddly beautiful” is a way to describe the collection of paintings and sculpture in Aggie Zed’s current exhibition “Down to Earth.” The Virginia artist says her work is “a lifelong celebration of the beauty and strangeness …” Daniel Pfalzgraf, B. Deemer Gallery’s director of media services, has his own explanation: “Her work has a theatrical feel … but it’s often left up to the viewer to interpret what exactly is going on within the scenes. Viewing her work often has a feeling similar to that of overhearing bits and pieces of a child playing make-believe as they create fantastical worlds from their imagination, but matured to work through more grown-up scenarios.” —Jo Anne Triplett