Wilshire Center

Found Art Trio: Tom Hartman, Leonard Seagal and Daniel Wheeler are three local young sculptors who share a gift for making mundane found objects intriguing. Hartman is the stand-up comedian of the group. His jokey pieces reduce art and art making to self-parodying tools of the trade. He constructs a swirling spiral from red plastic screw anchors pounded into the wall or empty picture frames that are simply four carpenter’s levels neatly interlocked. The craft is deft but the objects too quickly become a series of smart one-liners.

Seagal puts luggage on wheels and stacks gray rocks in it. There are metal forms held by cables that take a good-natured approach to the mysterious. Playfulness enlivens the pieces -- particularly “Pico Pica,” a strange installation of three empty “shells” mounted in front of a stylized painting of a flaming wall. It would delight any hot-rod aficionado.

Wheeler’s sculptures and installation prove the most involving. He uses old pails, whisk brushes, bent rods and wooden stools in a search for clues to the teetering experience of being human. The works have a quasi-religious quality. “Ecce Homo,” a tormented and seductive installation, seems to marry a voting booth to a confessional. The smart, sensitive piece asks troubling questions about personal vulnerability and social responsibility. (Glenn Dash Gallery, 962 N. La Brea Ave., to March 17.)