Wilshire Center

Mary Jones mixes pure, non-representational applications of color with ambivalent, seemingly three-dimensional imagery in her taut, high-keyed paintings. In “The Matrix of Location,” she mockingly uses flat bars of color to work her way back into space, while a pair of illusionistic, three-dimensional “poles” anchor the foreground. Soft-edged black and yellow bands set up a vibrantly insistent optical effect in the central region of the painting, parting to reveal a football-shaped object balancing on one end against flat, but seemingly infinite blue space.

There is almost a sci-fi eeriness about the spatial manipulation going on in these paintings. If this legerdemain sometimes borders on slickness, it is smartly conceived and fun to look at. What is disconcerting, however, is the surprisingly sloppy execution of these works. It is possible that Jones wants her edges to waver. Maybe she enjoys the distinction between the machine-made purity the color bars convey at a distance and the fallibility of her handmade brush stroke, which is evident on closer inspection. But this effect also looks hasty and amateurish, and that’s a pity. (Ovsey Gallery, 126 N. La Brea Ave., to Dec. 22.)