Buildings and bones

Although it’s the season for all things scary, Gabrielle Carlson’s Undefined Equations at Fools Foundation, 1025 19th Street, are not. Her 15 oil paintings of a skeleton could seem grisly. But her painterly brushstrokes inject animation sans any ghoulish intentions. In one “Undefined,” two torsos could be growing out of a trunk, or else Carlson’s caught a dynamic dance. But the final effect is that the shoulder blades end up looking like hearts—dangling flesh in a world of bones. Dan Lydersen’s surrealistic dreams, also in oils, are paired with Carlson’s paintings until November 4. There’s a soft, fluid, Dali-esque quality to his vision, as in “Keeping the Piece.” A first glance assumes Tolkien’s Middle Earth, but architectural wonders from other civilizations—akin to Middle Eastern ziggurats, Mexican pyramids and Manhattan skyscrapers—crowd atop a hill, suggesting someplace entirely other. For more information, call (916) 446-4221.