Evolution is often portrayed as a beneficent force, slowly molding creatures with its guiding hand, improving all species over time towards some glorious ideal. It seems the far more violent and uncaring truth is known to Michele Chang, as she explores the beauty and the horror of physical and mental revolution.

Even a quick glance at her collected works reveal a taste for darkly transformed women, relishing raw power bestowed by ancient gods or demonic pacts. Many aspects of their feminine charms remain, but their supple bodies are twisted — either slightly or profoundly — in excitingly horrific ways.

Dark caverns, ancient forests and dramatically lit throne rooms are their settings of choice, but Ms. Chang’s creations are anything but obscured. Her figures glow gently with an evil energy that animates their spirit as much as their fascinatingly distorted bodies.

The very occasional sensual male or deceptively innocent young woman are the exceptions to the rule so plainly seen: Evil’s propensity for pain and suffering is nearly equaled by its capacity for beauty.