SANTA MONICA

The Pence Gallery rounds out the trio of new showplaces on Colorado Avenue, opening with prints by Jasper Johns and intriguingly offbeat sculpture by Anne Preston. Lovers of the classic contemporary will mull on the exquisite touch Johns brought to his famous number series; everybody else will repair to the large gallery for Preston’s bemusing follies.

Her general idea seems to be to find out what happens if you make up your mind to render a real object in a wildly implausible way. Thus, she makes the familiar shape of a light bulb unrecognizable by realizing it in a stack of cut felt. It looks like a strata relief map. She puns on word and form, turning the human profile first into a long wooden molding, then into a lathed newel post. She starts with the idea of a hand and winds up with what looks like a Spanish fountain executed as a paper Christmas bell.

The work has qualities of intricate decoration and wall-eyed wit, but its overriding character is the way it gives us objects in a state of transformation. Added to other art we’ve seen around, it revives a timeless idea of the artist as alchemist. (Pence Gallery, 909 Colorado Ave., to Jan. 10.)