‘In the Flesh’ Clings to Surreal Identity

In “In the Flesh: A Body of Work,” the late-night show at Glaxa Studios’ new Studio K space, writer-performer Lauren Campedelli shares the story of an erotic encounter with a hunky cowboy. The pair skin a goat, shoot sparrows and make love by campfire, at which point Campedelli raises her head and asks both herself and the viewer: “Who am I?”

Home, home on the range.

The rest of this performance art smorgasbord directed by Thom Vernon cultivates a similarly surreal, blissed-out quality, both pretentious and gloriously knowing at the same time. Which is not to say that Campedelli, a recent expatriate from the Chicago theater scene, and her two cohorts (Julie Goldstein and Todd Tesen, who also play saxophone and tom-tom drums, respectively) don’t occasionally plumb self-indulgent depths.

To wit: Campedelli in one bit dons white go-go boots and delivers a mocking rap dedicated to the late Jacqueline Onassis. It’s an awesome spectacle, for its cudgel-like satire but also for its monumental poor taste.

And yet there is imagination here. The most intriguing bit finds Campedelli literally bringing to life Ingres’ 1814 canvas of a nude harem woman, “La Grande Odalisque,” going beyond high-minded voyeurism to ask legitimate questions about the timelessness of art.

“In the Flesh” is part of “Maiden Forms: a conspiracy of women,” a festival of female performers at Glaxa.

* “In the Flesh: A Body of Work,” Glaxa Studios, Studio K, 3707 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake. Fridays-Saturdays, 10 p.m. Ends June 1. $10. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.