LA CIENEGA AREA

A new gallery inaugurates itself with the debut of Kay Omata, a locally trained painter. A dozen large abstract paintings demonstrate a degree of virtuosity that puts one in mind of Wunderkind ballet dancers and concert performers. Omata’s touch, pictorial space and lovely color harmonies are so seductive that they make you wish that the standards for fine artists and performing artists were indeed the same thing so you could just sit there applauding these paintings with polite enthusiasm.

“What a wonderful rendition of Arshile Gorky, she plays!” we would say before going out for intermission. In paintings like “Cross Your Heart” and “Hear You,” you can hardly see the classroom studio still-life set-ups, but there they are.

The best thing Omata has going for her is a feathery, suave, lyric sense that is probably all her own. Once she shucks off the mantle of Gorky and gets all that runaway skill under control, she may do something less flashy and more significant. (Eilat Gordin Gallery, 644 N. Robertson Blvd., to June 7.)