WILSHIRE CENTER

Paintings by Christopher Brown have the pan-global quality of avant-garde plays by Robert Wilson. Like the theatrical enfant terrible, Brown skips around the world in a time frame that’s been customized to suit his fancy; consequently, his paintings are grounded nowhere but in his own imagination

. In “Red Yangtze” the head of Chairman Mao bobs on a sea of horizontal stripes; a large diptych titled “West” depicts a headless figure in a red uniform surrounded by large cups that appear to be floating in space; a hefty tree stripped of leaves occupies center stage in two large canvases on view. Brown paints with a stylish graphic quality reminiscent of Jim Dine, but for all their surface swish, there’s an ominous undercurrent to his pictures, which throw time, memory and the map slightly out of kilter.

Also on view is a series of black-and-white photographs by Laurie Brown titled “Vistas: Western Journeys.” What Brown does is combine a topographical photograph of a given site alongside twin images of the same site shot from the ground. Focusing for the most part on barren, empty landscapes, the series is built around an interesting premise but visually it doesn’t add up to much. Less about photography than it is about minimalism and serial imagery, the work has an austere, parched quality. (Jan Turner Gallery, 8000 Melrose Ave., to Nov. 15.)