SANTA MONICA

Extensively shown in Japan and Europe, Tomoharu Murakami debuts here with a one-person show of two paintings and a sampling of works on paper. Murakami harnesses traditional Oriental patience and reserve to produce--especially in the paper works--remarkable Turneresque atmospheres that suggest a merging of sky, land and matter into one cosmic, swirling whole. If that sounds a little Zen, it is.

What is more amazing than their philosophical implications is that Murakami achieves these simultaneously subtle and theatrical effects with just two colors, red and black. With astonishing control, Murakami painstakingly applies one thin layer of pigment after the other, then quickly sweeps away areas of paint to leave a textured, modulated surface. The effects are so atmospheric, tactile and dimensional that you find yourself leaning over to check the edge of the paper to confirm that it is indeed a two-dimensional surface. In two large black canvases, the artist achieves reverberating surfaces that look like powdered charcoal but their sparseness reads like less-is-not-enough. (Corcoran Gallery, 1327 Fifth St., to Aug. 31.)