LA CIENEGA AREA

Minimalism was king of the hill when Carol Kaufman was studying painting at CalArts in the early ‘70s, and the issues raised by that aesthetic continue to intrigue her. Uninvolved with art market trends, she’s the sort of stubborn individual who stakes out a patch of ground that she’ll continue to work long after the fields of flashier art stars have gone fallow. She’s painting for the long haul, and an exhibition of 16 new abstractions done in pencil and oil on gesso canvas finds her working in full stride.

Kaufman cites Richard Tuttle as an artist she admires and her work is infused with a wistful subtlety reminiscent of Tuttle. Little things mean a lot in Kaufman’s realm and she punctuates her pictures with the vaguest rumor of color. With a cursory glance, the surfaces of her paintings appear muted and neutral; in fact, this is extensively developed work that incorporates layers of barely detectable underpainting. The compositions buried deep within the paintings never quite come into focus and they imbue the work with the sense of something secret and veiled. Like a forest glimpsed through a heavy fog, Kaufman’s work has the quality of a holy mirage. One detects a devotion in these modest paintings that’s quite touching. (Adler Gallery, 667 N. La Cienega Blvd., to June 13.)