La Cienega Area

Known as the Zhou Brothers, Shan Zuo and Da Huang Zhoushi are young emigres from the People’s Republic of China, members of the first generation of their countrymen to work in abstract styles based on Western models. They collaborate on large and lumbering mixed-media paintings--some in columnar formats--that look dutifully schooled in the art of Miro and Dubuffet as well as the prehistoric cliff paintings of Guangxi Province. Silhouettes of “primitive” figures and beasts, thin red lines and small markings meander over lumpy surfaces of buckling fabric. The artists’ attempt at creating a weathered, “ancient” effect is thwarted by a cacophony of special effects, including metallic paints and passages that seem to have been textured with metal screening.

The smaller paintings are somewhat more streamlined, though they still get zapped by ludicrously inappropriate swaths of metallic paint. A horned animal and a harp-like form hanging from the central tree in “Tree of Life” have a sprightly, piquant aspect. With more pruning of extraneous elements, the fanciful side of the Zhou Brothers’ vision might have some room to breathe. (Feingarten Galleries, 8380 Melrose Ave., to Feb. 24.)