These days when people talk about fairy tales, they tend to be referencing unrealistic, magical-thinking, pie-in-the-sky fictions in which everything works out for the very pretty, sparkly best. But the origins of otherworldly folkloric memes like Snow White, Cinderella and Hansel & Gretel are much murkier, violent affairs. Camille Rose Garcia: Snow White and the Black Lagoon, opening tonight at Michael Kohn Gallery, offers the latter sort of vision. In the spirit of the Brothers Grimm, Garcia offers up an adult-themed allegory of greed, environmental devastation and psychological masking. A kaleidoscope of visual styles from the raw and rent to the breathlessly delicate depict a mash-up of old and new variations on the Snow White story, tracing society's skill at concealing the true depths of its selfish depravity behind glossy, Technicolor fantasies. Garcia's bloody, glitter-coated and oil-drenched princesses and hapless, pint-sized dwarf-drones appear in a variety of metaphorical forms that both tap into and explode the version of the story you remember from childhood. The better to see yourselves in, my dears.

Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: March 12. Continues through April 9, 2011

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