La Cienega Area

Ron Janowich’s shaped paintings look like circles with a central slice pulled part-way down (think of a sliding box top). On the linen surfaces of these works he sets up layers of thinly painted markings that somewhat resemble magnified images of fabric weave. “Octane” offers an almost moire effect of orange, green and oxblood. In “Pause,” a painted pale brown wood grain pattern receives a scattering of right-angled neutrally colored brush strokes--a self-effacing remnant of Constructivism eked out with thin, watery paint.

Janowich seems to be trying to do several things at once, which dovetail in unexpected ways. The serenely centered, Orientalizing shapes create the aura of meditativeness at the same time that, in homage to formalist paintings of the ‘60s, they emphasize the non-illusory, object-like nature of these works. The moodily transparent layers of paint seem calculated to pull the eye into imaginary depths--sometimes with flickering allusions to light in nature--yet the brush strokes also can be read as simply delicately mannered markings on a surface.

The artist has said that he seeks “an emotional complexity.” What he really seems to be after is a way of reconciling moments from the history of abstraction and painting in general into an appealing perceptual whole. Happily, the intense self-consciousness that goes into these paintings doesn’t dim their supple visual appeal. (Asher/Faure, 612 N. Almont Drive, to Dec. 16.)