WILSHIRE CENTER

Brad Dunning gets into big trouble when he poses as a painter, but when he sticks to what he knows--flat-footed cartoons, rendered as funky, framed objects--he can be amusing. His specialty is banal images, recycled from advertising and tagged with hand-lettered bromides. The combination adds up to satirical criticism of subjects ranging from “The Total Woman” to pop psychology. Most effective among a batch of intentionally egregious paintings are such small works as “The Smog Makes the Sunsets So Beautiful” (accompanying the silhouette of a couple on a hillside balcony) and “How to be a Really Nice Person” (with a man pushing a button on a large box that sprouts a giant pinwheel). Trouble is, such trenchant giggles get lost in the show’s trendy pretensions. (Fiona Whitney Gallery, 962 N. La Brea Ave., to May 11.)