British-born, San Francisco artist Susannah Bettag often adapts symbols from other cultures and time periods to create her own vernacular. Spark visits Bettag as she prepares for her debut solo show, “Vanitas Baby,” at the Frey Norris Gallery. For this body of work, she borrows from the vanitas tradition, a style of painting popular in 17th century Netherlands in which symbolism is used to depict mortality and the ephemeral quality of sensory pleasures.

Bettag creates multi-layered paintings which exemplifies her love of color. Her line drawing layer inspired by pornography is topped with her cartoon baby-like creatures. The two play on tensions between women’s eroticism and the dangers and discoveries of childhood innocence.

The centerpiece of this show, “Drowning Without You,” consists of thousands of white matte vinyl dolls hanging in a two-story installation shaped like hourglass. The dolls were manufactured based on a character that has appeared repeatedly Bettag’s paintings named “Little Boo.” Bettag says of Little Boo, “There was something about him that was innocent, at the same time being naïve and also a little unnerving.”

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