LA CIENEGA AREA

Richard Sigmund isn’t the first to find romance on the streets, and he certainly isn’t the first to focus on pavement itself. He distinguishes himself, however, by making vast acrylic paintings that merge the mundane reality of roadways with the mystery of the universe. His dark chunks of flat streets, spatter-painted with ethereal light, often double as star-strewn skies, with painted lines resembling the Milky Way.

There’s drama in these street-skies, as when a dark skid mark rushes through a diagonal course and explodes light bands. Creative viewers can interpret such moments (and, in fact, most of this work) as a clash between celestial liberation and earthbound restraint. The loftier elements of this art don’t fly for long, however, because the work is overdesigned. Despite their handsome skins, Sigmund’s paintings often come off as painterly versions of poster art or familiar photographs.

One that doesn’t is a 30-foot-long canvas from his “Porter Street Series.” Because it’s impossible to take in the entire painting at once, one travels slowly along its length, reading the visual incidents. The painting doesn’t duplicate a road; it re-creates the experience of a journey without the interference of artifice. (Koplin Gallery, 8225 1/2 Santa Monica Blvd., to April 12.)