Los Angeles-based artist Jim Shaw's first solo show at Blum & Poe in Culver City is dominated by an 18 by 40 foot work called Mississippi River Mural, described as "an old theater backdrop layered with a frieze of figures painted in illustrative comic style in battle-ready stances." 

The gallery goes on to describe the three-decade-spanning retrospective in this way:

Shaw's fantastical, humorous, and psychologically laden explorations into esoteric, as well as popular, cultural phenomena coalesce to render a tale of Biblical proportion. Combing historic texts, artworks, comic books, and his dreams, Shaw's flood of imagery is an essential tool in conveying his imagined histories and fables. Rivers, houses, and hair are but a few motifs repeated throughout the exhibition. Seemingly disparate, they mnemonically serve each other in depicting over-arching themes of fallen heroes, collapsed economies, concepts of sin, and general doomsday destruction.

Definitely seems like something worth checking out, perhaps at the opening reception this Friday, November 1, from 6 to 8 pm. The reception is, as always, free and open to the public. Blum & Poe is located at 2727 S. La Cienega in Culver City.