La Cienega Area

Film maker Blake Edwards, director of the “Pink Panther” movies, among others, also makes art. It is not surprising that an individual successful in one creative field should want to dabble in another. The surprise is that the writer/producer/director shows real promise as a sculptor.

In a series of 28 figurative bronzes completed over the past few years, Edwards seems to be rapidly evolving a strong vocabulary of form. Small early figures, somewhat reminiscent of R.C. Gorman’s Indian woman, are organic with smooth, undulating curves and finger pinched heads. Eyes are rudimentary holes. The most interesting have a nose that is apparent only in profile. Seen straight on it is a deep cleft that effectively divides the face into two mask-like segments. Small figures have a warmth that expresses interdependence by merging two figures into a hand rubbed, fluid mass.

As Edwards pushes the figures further into pure abstraction, the ideas of interdependency become less personal but in some ways more potent. “Interlocking Piece,” a mottled green bronze of three interwoven arches, is a squarish abstract recalling Brancusi’s “The Kiss” that, for all its formal solidity, still manages to feel sexual. Edwards’ flat, hard-edge paintings in somber colors are never able to hit the same level of emotional involvement or intellectual clarity. (Feingarten Galleries, 8380 Melrose Ave., to Dec. 31.)