A Dutiful Exercise in Sculpture

So tasteful they’re innocuous, Guy Dill’s recent sculptures and monoprints at Bobbie Greenfield Gallery deflect critical commentary. To say anything substantial about them is to make mountains out of molehills.

A typical monoprint by Dill consists of a cluster of dark circles, arcs, semicircles and ellipses, all set against a blandly colored field printed to suggest the texture of burlap, leather or concrete. A typical sculpture results when these compositions are transferred to three dimensions.

Made of perfectly machined steel that has been painted black, similar circles, arcs, semicircles and ellipses now form anodyne arrangements atop pedestals of finely finished steel, smoothly cut limestone or rough green marble. Such formal decisions as balance and composition, as well as mass and gravity, are unimaginatively embodied. By dutifully delivering some of the comforts of established tastefulness, these completely resolved pieces make failure look more interesting, especially when success lacks inspiration or edge.

* Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 264-0640, through June 21. Closed Sundays and Mondays.