If the heat and dung aura of the National Zoo is keeping you away from its fated elephants and panda parties, there’s a better venue out there — this one offering delicious A/C and, for the right price, the option to take home some cuddly animals. Irvine Contemporary’s new show Animalia gives us bears, lizards, and giraffes, in one of those nice clean galleries to boot.

Contemporary aesthetics of cutesy things aside, this show is a solid one. Curated by Heather Russell, 22 artists were corralled into one gallery with a very long lasso. You’ve got video, photography, painting, and at the very literal end, a taxidermied deer. With so many artists and egos, it’s asking to bound out of control, spilling onto 14th street. And that’s what makes the show hold fast.

Entering the gallery you’ll find Josh Levine’s fiberboard and foam creatures; one hangs on three arms leering at you from someplace in between Labryrinth and a petting zoo. His two sculptures are seeking an environment in the gallery, one drinking gold broth from a still fountain, and seem apt to charge out onto the street to harass passersby.