ART REVIEW

Interpretation of Dreams: Since the beginning of psychoanalysis, dreams have been treated as valuable pathways into the souls of dreamers. Consequently, when artists depict their dreams, viewers are supposedly treated to images that give us unrestricted access to the traumas and phobias that fuel creative genius.

In a wonderfully eccentric series of “Dream Drawings” made over the past several years, Jim Shaw made a joke of such one-dimensional thinking. At Rosamund Felsen Gallery, a sprawling installation of paintings and sculptures continues this project, translating more of the artist’s dreams into three dimensions.

More than 40 prop-like objects invite viewer participation. “Dream Object #18” is a large painting of a spinal column, in which seven oval holes have been cut so visitors can have their photos taken, as living vertebrae.

Likewise, dozens of pieces show popular cartoon characters engaged in uncharacteristic activities. Rendered in the signature styles of famous artists, many other works depict subjects the original artists wouldn’t be caught dead representing.

To visit this installment of Shaw’s dream life is to find yourself swimming in a mix-and-match stew whose energy is as animated as it is infectious.

The best thing about Shaw’s art is that it isn’t controlled by the notion that dreams reveal singular selves. Taking viewers back to a time when interpretations of dreams were richer and more mysterious than psychoanalysis allows, these works travel into the social world of shared references.

In the back gallery, 292 close-up photographs of Shaw’s face go well beyond the limits of self-expression. Made by Fredrik Nilsen, these portraits of the artist striving to express his many-faceted “feelings” turn Surrealism inside-out. Like a pre-Modern shaman who lives in a post-Modern world, Shaw does not express his “self” as much as he invites his public to explore the true weirdness at the heart of everyday life.

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* Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 828-8488, through Dec. 20. Closed Sundays and Mondays.