La Cienega Area

In his first L.A. show, German-born artist Fritz Hirschberger shows expressionistic oil paintings tapping the horrors of Nazi Germany, the hypocrisy of the church and a generic Angst.

Hirschberger’s figuration is built from supple Teutonic dark lines that describe hollow eyes or resigned grimaces. Inside contours, broad areas of translucent bright magentas and blues or jarring areas of jade and turquoise create the crude anatomy of victims and perpetrators. In “The Concordat,” a corpulent Nazi officer and a faceless Catholic bishop stand on the emaciated body of a concentration camp victim. Another shows two numbed musicians in prisoner pajamas playing their classical instruments for a can of lethal gas. With a highly personal, expressionistic take on Cubist faceting, the fine “Bugle” presents the Universal Soldier as a maimed but resilient puppet of fate.

That Hirschberger’s paintings are laced with close-range anguish is not surprising; as a youth he was whisked off by the Nazis to Poland, sent to a work camp by the invading Russians and eventually saw combat on the side of the Allies. Hirschberger’s strident hues, content and style are also not surprising. (Heritage Gallery, 718 N. La Cienega Blvd., to July 30.)