HOLLYWOOD

Nature is incapable of vulgarity, so it follows that an exhibition of landscape painting is apt to be an elegant affair--and so this one is. Exploring the violent side of nature, a group exhibition, titled “Dark Natures,” suggests that even when in a furious rage, the elements move with impressive grace. Showcasing work by 10 local artists, this thought-provoking show examines the mercurial temper of the universe in a variety of beautiful disguises.

Like a magical omen from heaven, a comet races through a crimson sky in Frederick Wight’s “Second Comet”; that same sky (there’s only one, you know) is ripped by a tornado in Peter Zakosky’s “The Weather,” an epic panorama that looks like an illustration from one of those children’s book with titles like “When Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth.”

The tranquility we tend to read into Vija Celmins’ oddly tragic black-and-white drawings of sea and sky seems like a trick of the mind when we view them next to one of Scott Riker’s turbulent paintings of cascading water. Though the sense of harmony that permeates Celmins’ work may be deceptive, her art, as well as most of the work here by women artists, seems decidedly serene in contrast with that by the male artists in the show.

Ann McCoy whispers like Seurat in “Mt. Everest,” which depicts the ghostly after-image of a towering mountain. In a hushed night scene evocative of Edward Hopper, Lisa Ferrante paints a full moon beaming down on two mobile homes topped with TV antennas. In her 20th-Century version of “40 acres and a mule,” these portable metal dwellings seem like fragile protection against the moods of Mother Nature. We see her operating at the peak of her wrathful power in Terry Schoonhoven’s study for “Isle of California,” the massive Santa Monica mural depicting California in the grip of an earthquake that’s sending huge hunks of the Golden State tumbling into the sea. A few paintings down the wall we find the same sea sleeping soundly--for the moment--in James Trivers’ “Ocean at Night.” (Newspace, 5241 Melrose Ave., to Feb 1.)