WILSHIRE CENTER

Merion Estes’ landscapes put one in mind of a memorable speech that film maker Werner Herzog makes in the Les Blank film “Burden of Dreams.” In talking about his experience of shooting a film in the Brazilian jungle, Herzog describes the jungle--and all of nature--as filthy, diseased, voracious, relentlessly consuming and spreading. Similarly, the flora and fauna in Estes’ work is a bit too intense for comfort. Massive exotic blooms throb with color in these suffocatingly lush pictures, which have the appearance of travel posters of Tahiti as seen under the influence of LSD.

One or more of the elements-- usually fire and water--dominate Estes’ canvases, which interpret nature as a metaphor for the human soul. Mountains and sea merge to form a backdrop for torrents of rushing water, as strange planets roiling with colored gases drift through the foreground. It’s a shamelessly romantic vision of nature--so much so that it borders on kitsch, and it’s not surprising to learn that Estes used to be a card-carrying member of California’s neo-kitsch Pattern Painting School. Formerly known for embellishing her paintings with glitter and sequins, Estes shows her roots with this new work which practically chokes on lavish amounts of luxurious color. They’re highly decorative pictures to be sure; nonetheless, Estes’ hallucinatory landscapes have a bite that’s hard to ignore. Like paintings by Van Gogh, these pictures seem capable of spontaneous combustion.

Also on view are wall sculptures by Ed Quoss who converts television sets into conceptual statements by painting them white, removing the picture tube, and replacing it with immaculate layers of granite, stone, wood or sand. (Jan Baum Gallery, 170 S. La Brea, to April 25.)