LA CIENEGA AREA

When the U.S. Navy and the Libyans started tossing missiles the other day, even the most levelheaded citizens had an apocalyptic twinge that asked the mordant question, “Are they going to go bonkers and drop the big one?”

According to one explanation, current art looks the way it does because it is made by sensitive souls constantly in the grip of the horrifying bottom-line possibilities: the Bomb, environmental pollution, failing to get a reservation at the new restaurant.

Whatever the cause, paintings and drawings by Paul McCarthy look like they were fashioned by somebody in such a snit as to be almost incapable of the control necessary to form even the wildest art. McCarthy has a vita longer on video art and performance than painting, so maybe he just needs more practice.

Oversize unstretched canvases might be described as employing Abstract Expressionist brushwork to form graffiti-like imagery that recalls aspects of Dubuffet, Francis Bacon and Miro. There is some authentic spatial interest in “Candy Land,” but generally a professional description of the work is too charitable. There are a couple of smaller works, like “Dream Sled,” that chime a believable note of broken hope, but most of this is too much an infantile tantrum to hold serious attention. (Rosamund Felsen Gallery, 669 N. La Cienega Blvd., to April 19.)