WILSHIRE CENTER

The seductive ritualism of Catholicism is roasted in a series of mixed-media icons by Carlos M. Espinet. Small fetishistic pieces involving books, belts, twine, coins, and decals among other things, Espinet’s wicked tributes to the tenets of the Vatican, don’t pull any punches. “Religious Image With Double Standard” is the title of one piece, while a young man in drag carries a cross in “Sanctified Self-Portrait.”

Also on view are paintings by Pedro Octavio Elizondo that attempt to conjure the lush, sultry air of the tropics. Flat compositions with a strong graphic quality, the pictures focus for the most part on dense displays of exotic vegetation rendered in riotously bright Fiesta Ware colors. They lack any sort of lingering resonance, but are agreeably decorative pictures nonetheless. (Ivey Gallery, 154 N. La Brea, to July 18).