DOWNTOWN

Mixed-media work by Richard Ralph Roehl puts one in mind of a scene in the Wim Wenders film “Paris, Texas,” featuring a crazed evangelist drunk on visions of Apocalypse. “There will be no safety zones!” screams the alarmed citizen, “the safety zones will all be gone!” Roehl must’ve had a slice of the same moldy bread, because his view of society is dark and hallucinatory indeed.

Depraved sexual impulses are not only indulged but encouraged in Roehl’s corrupted world, and guiding this ship of fools to sure oblivion are deranged politicians with both fists in the cookie jar. In “Subway” we see a horizontal strip of X-rated images beneath a painting of the Manhattan skyline in flames, while “Bustrip” includes a photograph of Einstein with the word criminal stamped below it. Everyone’s held accountable for everything in Roehl’s court.

The stale cologne of Pop Art hangs about much of this jerry-built work, which has a grungy “combine” look evocative of Rauschenberg. Dolls, broken watches, spoons, glass eyes, old tin cans--all are fodder for Roehl’s mill, and his high-speed blender often threatens to whir right off the counter and all over the floor. His work is better when it’s a bit calmer. A droll series of cartoons lampooning sex and careerism in art has the screwy charm of work by H.C. Westermann; it’s easier to listen to Roehl when he refrains from hollering. (Thinking Eye, 1318 S. Figueroa St., to May 16.)