Home and other ruins

Artist Lucy Puls, who teaches sculpture at UC Davis, is renowned for the way she takes neglected objects and photos depicting household ruin and transforms them into pieces of introspection-worthy art.

Her latest exhibit Lucy Puls: [just you], on display at the Verge Center for the Arts through October 25, amasses 40 objects collected between 1987 and 2015.

Individually, each piece offers a microcosmic glimpse into domestic bliss and unrest. As a whole, the exhibit is physically unsettling for the way it occupies space, sparsely—and intellectually stimulating for its focus on seemingly banal items and antiquated household staples. Pieces include the simple light switch and a mysteriously fabric-draped 1950s-era lamp. There's also an outdated rotary phone and the shell of an old, bulky television set.

The Berkeley-based artist, whose works have been featured in collections at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Museum and the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, will be on hand Thursday, October 22, at the Verge for an artist discussion with the exhibit's curator. “In Conversation: Lucy Puls and Dena Beard” will focus on form, point-of-view and the modern aesthetic. $5 general admission, free for Verge members; 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday, October 22; 625 S Street; www.vergeart.com.