Hollywood

Like all artists Tom Stanton mines his past when he paints. But with Stanton his past is not simply an allusion but the actual surface of the work itself. Old paintings cut up, overpainted and integrated become the connective tissue and skin for his new imagery. It’s a little like watching an actor rehearse an old play; each time through giving the lines another, more amplified meaning.

This time around the paintings bury earlier foreboding images beneath a curling web of thick white lines. It’s like watching Mark Tobey white out an El Greco. Results are uneven but have a strongly ritualistic, tribal flavor. Most impressive are pieces like “Dragon” where the white rococo lines suggest grotesque, Oriental demon masks and give the obsessive doodling a fierce energy.

Stanton’s sculpture is more playful and more consistent. Obviously pulled together from whatever was around, “Senufu” in particular recalls both roots and the white-clay-decorated body of an African dancer. After the visual clamor of the paintings their elegant, linear simplicity is a welcome relief.

In the adjoining gallery Maureen O’Hara Ure shows small tableaux inspired by folk art. A confusing mix of items--part toy box, part furniture, part traditional painting--it is unclear whether these canny pieces are autobiographical fragments or a collection of embellished household furnishings made for fun. Some, like “Your House is on Fire; Your Children Alone” seem to carry messages about history and racism, but others are just empty stages where the painted backdrop is too generalized to have any meaning. (Space, 6015 Santa Monica Blvd., to July 1.)