LA CIENEGA AREA

German artist Martin Kippenberger’s reputation seems to rest, in part, on his rejection of art as personal expression, stated in trademark style. That’s a popular stance these days, but it doesn’t jibe with the work in his Los Angeles debut.

Seven paintings share a grayed palette, brushy surface, black line, posteresque composition and a propensity for the ironic use of words. If he’s traveled an aesthetic mile from the perpetuators of logo art, he nonetheless gives us a cohesive show. No apologies are needed for that.

Each work seems to start with a fresh idea, though they follow a cynical path. The funniest is a canvas called “For Life Without a Dentist,” with those words squeezed out like cake frosting on a sendup of a sentimental illustration. A bare-bottomed baby walks along the surf in a diamond-shaped vignette in the center of the painting while fluttering ribbons and decorative-art cliches fill spaces above and below the scene. “Design for a Mothers /Rehabilitation Home” has a plump red heart perched like a beached whale above a blocky form. In other works, Kippenberger pokes fun at the Soviet work ethic and, in a deliberatively glitzy piece, announces “Siberia Hates You.” His irreverence applies to social issues as well as aesthetic ones, but he’s clearly an insider in the world of art and his knowledge shows.

Concurrently, Craig Cree Stone exhibits works from his inventive “Drawing Table Series” in an amusing installation that throws perspective to the wind. Lines drawn on gallery walls and mirrored “Skylights” would have us believe that another room exists beyond the walls. In that illusionistic space, his elaborately crafted tables--with solid “shadows” and functional sideboard tops--make perfect sense. In a conventional room, one of these furniture spoofs would be a nonstop conversation piece. (Kuhlenschmidt/Simon Gallery, 9000 Melrose Ave., to Nov. 30.)