LA CIENEGA AREA

Robert Todd’s first solo exhibition is very nearly a textbook example of the pitfalls of debut shows. The painter, recently arrived from Chicago, is so busy covering up technical shortcomings and copying admired artists that the viewer spends all his time thinking about something other than this artist and what he has to say.

As to that, the theme seems to revolve around anxious and kinky erotic fantasies played out in the urban imagination. In “Revengance” our hero is about to have an electric wire tossed into his bath. In “Wedding Party” we witness an rather mechanical orgy in an Egyptian seraglio.

If these sound more like movie stills than paintings, that’s right. The most artistic thing about this work is the laundry list of artists Todd calls up to act in his illustrative dramas: Richard Lindner, David Hockney, Francis Bacon and Fernand Leger provide the figures while Jasper Johns throws in the crosshatched carpet.

For all those gaffes, plus the constant technical fan dance to avoid serious work-up of the paint, there is a lot of talent banging around in these pictures. The strange “Anxiety” is subtly compelling and does aptly woozy things to the space. At that, Todd has a lot to sort out, perhaps even including whether this clear demonstration of insight and intelligence wants to apply itself to painting at all. One feels film, writing and psychology banging around here too. (Eilat Gordin Gallery, 644 N. Robertson Blvd., to March 4.)