Ancient, Architectural, Contemporary Trio

The triptych, it seems, is ubiquitous in art these days, so it’s about time someone staged an art exhibition that is itself a kind of triptych. The trio of exhibitions currently on view at the art galleries of Cal State Northridge is such an event. It juxtaposes a show of some 60 ancient Greek vases from the local collection of Hanita and Aaron Decter with an utterly contemporary neon and adobe rumination on Ulysses by the Pasadena artist Jan Sanchez. “Odyssey” travels by way of earthen constellations lit with electric stars, past a temple of Zeus with crumbling adobe columns and a neon core--and through a colorful, pulsating Hades, as gaily surreal as a miniature golf course. At one point in the journey, a doorway opens to the third element in the triple-header: Steven Appleton’s provocatively hung architectural fragments from demolished Los Angeles industrial buildings, which take on an almost archeological antiquity next to the other two shows.

Three exhibitions at CSUN Art Galleries, 18111 Nordhoff St . , Northridge. (818) 885-2226. Through March 30. Open noon to 4 p.m. Monday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; special Saturday hours March 24, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

MULTIPLE MOSES: Welcoming accident, chance and “magic” in his work, Ed Moses has long been an artist whose hallmark is experimentation. An intimate glimpse into that process, in all its revealing trial and error, is provided by a show of some 30 artist’s proofs and trial prints by Moses at the Santa Monica Heritage Museum--which alternates exhibitions of contemporary art with more historical themes. Honored as the museum’s artist of the year, Moses opened his personal archives to the institution. Moses, who does not routinely venture into printmaking, calls the work--which spans the 1980s--the “fall-out” from his experiments with that medium; but with a few exceptions, it’s hard to peg any of these as mistakes. Explorations is more like it.

“Ed Moses: Works on Paper” through April 1 at Santa Monica Heritage Museum, 2612 Main St . , Santa Monica. (213)392-8537. Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.

SPANISH EYE: A show of work by the Catalan artist Perejaume at the Meyers/Bloom Gallery has turned into a preview glimpse of the 1990 Venice Biennale, which takes place in Italy this June. At the gallery opening of the Perejaume show, the artist had just learned he has been selected as one of Spain’s three representatives to the “Aperto,” the prestigious invitational division of the summer-long international contemporary art fair.

A poetic foreigner whose work looks refreshingly different from that at the forefront of current U.S. art dialogues, Perejaume produces clean-cut, mixed-media paintings, photographs and installations that often draw on classical artists’ frames to literally explore the “framing” of perceptions and experience.

Perejaume, through March 31 at the Meyers/Bloom Gallery, 2112 Broadway, Santa Monica. (213) 829-0062. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

ARTIST BOOKWORMS: Ever since the 1970s, when artists including Ed Ruscha and Claes Oldenburg seized upon the handmade book as a fresh way to produce accessible art that was literally off the wall, artist’s books have been a sideline interest of many art aficionados. Now UCLA is showing a traveling retrospective of the Southern California bookmaking arts of the 1980s, sponsored by the Los Angeles-based Alliance for Contemporary Book Arts. The show includes both artists’ books and books made according to vanishing--or emerging--bookbinding and papermaking arts, with a generous emphasis on student work.

“A Southern California Decade: An Exhibition of Contemporary Books” through March 31 in the lobby and special collections department of the University Research Library at UCLA. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.