SANTA MONICA

Robert Broner’s latest “Frequent Flyer Series” of paintings and monotypes attempt to communicate the fear and loathing that comes from 10 years of commuting between his native Detroit and current New York home. Buckling one’s seat belt takes on all the horror of sitting in the electric chair, while Broner’s vision of “having a nice flight” has more to do with assuming crash positions than choosing between the filet mignon and veal Marsala. Unfortunately, Broner undermines the potential power of such scenarios by employing a sketchy, painterly style half-way between representational realism and the cartoon-like illustration of in-flight emergency leaflets. The results are flat and lifeless, closer to a film story-board than the emotive resonance one expects from such a dark fantasist.

Also on display is a group of metal sculptures by local artist Donna Salem that present a series of kinetic figures in awkward, dynamic poses. Resembling disjointed, three-dimensional silhouette cut-outs, the works owe certain debts to the Futurists, particularly their tension between formal coalescence and collapse, and their ability to command space by simply implying movement. Once Salem’s work is dismantled into a series of formal strategies, however, there is little in the figurative subjects themselves to sustain more than passing interest. (Merging One Gallery, 1547 6th St., to Oct. 3.)