Hollywood

Tom Holste took people by surprise a year or so ago when he switched from a constructivist aesthetic to that of a draftsman inspired by art’s transformative powers. The move seemed inconsistent, but the new body of work--drawings of rocks that suggest other things--is interesting enough to quell most doubts.

Densely worked charcoal and oil pastel drawings of rocks appear along with some real ones on the floor. As usual, the resonant drawings venture beyond verisimilitude to suggest ancient masks, prehistoric figurative sculpture, animals or human brains. These wrinkled, cracked or faceted forms seem imprinted with history and connected to a myriad of other objects.

They also comment on a basic urge to see a face in the clouds or to bring natural wonders down to size by naming them “arches” or “monuments.” But Holste doesn’t trivialize rocks nor does he hold them up as sublime. He holds a tight course, off the sentimental path of nature, saying in effect that a rock is more than a stone-cold hunk of matter; it’s an allusive way of seeing. (Newspace, 5241 Melrose Ave., to April 9.)