Hubert Schmalix @ Jancar Gallery

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Strange as it may seem to American eyes, the attractive nude woman who stands in the middle of five of the seven new paintings by Hubert Schmalix at the Jancar Gallery is not the most fascinating part of any picture. Although she gets your attention as quickly as any sexy advertisement, what happens next is a lot more exciting than oogling a beauty.

With seemingly effortless ease, Schmalix gets you interested in the uncanny magic of paint on canvas — its capacity to make you think of one thing while looking at another, never letting you forget that it is nothing but tinted goo smeared on and stained into tautly stretched fabric.

The backgrounds of the rooms in which Schmalix’s painted woman stands are wonderfully complicated, filled with enough twists and turns — even leaps of faith — to keep your eyes moving quickly and your mind racing to keep up. Persian rugs appear to have been hung on the walls, like makeshift tapestries.

But Schmalix is not a Realist. He plays fast and loose with the patterns and palettes, changing colors midpattern and shifting patterns midcomposition. The controlled chaos is a pleasure to behold.

His two flower paintings (that’s ‘Untitled’ above right), each measuring about 6 by 4 feet, like the largest nudes, are even bolder and more sensuous. They seem to be lighted from behind, their flat planes of rich tertiary colors and sharp, darkly outlined leaves make them look electric.

It’s easy to see why the Austrian painter lives in Los Angeles and commutes to Vienna, where he teaches at the National Academy. Southern California’s desert-meets-the-sea light suits his Matisse-inspired subjects. And the long-standing love affair between hedonism and art in L.A. makes Schmalix’s paintings look right at home here.

Look for reviews of James Gobel at Steve Turner Contemporary, Ken Price at L.A. Louver and Ai Yamaguchi at Roberts & Tilton on Friday.

-- David Pagel