THE VALLEY

Mike Lloyd’s new multi-image realist paintings draw upon the photo-montage strategy of representation commonly used by advertising agencies and the print media.

At first glance the work appears to be a somewhat awkward critique of received information. Using simple juxtapositions of macro- and microperspectives, primitive and high-tech iconography (such as a carnival dancer contrasted with an astronaut), Lloyd discloses the way media language can merge the ideology of otherwise diverse image systems. On the other hand, his use of the unabashed rhetoric of romantic painting suggests that the work is mainly concerned with searching for the lost message of painting. Lacking a firm narrative or conceptual base, the work merely seems confused and contrived.

Michael Moon has titled one of his abstract paintings “Looking for a Place to Go,” and it perfectly describes his work’s main shortcomings. Moon has a strong command of gestural sweep, interesting juxtapositions of palette and a fixed repertoire of formal motifs built around a recurring T-shape and rectangular frames, yet the overall impact is one of a fluid vocabulary waiting for something original to say. (Orlando Gallery, 14553 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, to Jan. 30.)