Gestural Imagery Shown in Sylmar

A four-person show, “Recent Gestural Painting,” at the Century Gallery in Sylmar, conveys the message that gestural imagery--signature visual markings and brushwork expressing human touch--has never died. It’s just changed shapes and attitudes.

The most impressive work comes from Ann Harold Taylor, whose paintings are big and vigorous abstractions, teeming with spiraling bunched-up forms that suggest pipes, done in a darkly cartoonish style.

A quieter aesthetic is at work in the abstract, mixed-media efforts of Jo Varney.

Backgrounds of a single color provide a foundation for textured materials and subtle bursts of visual imagery.

Collage elements enter the picture in Marylyn English’s work, while John Zarcone’s relief sculptures erupt out of the wall, adding strange twists to the painting tradition in the gallery.

Celebration for an Icon: A diverse traveling show at the Finegood Gallery, “Shalom Haver: 30 Artistic Responses to the Life and Tragic Death of Yitzhak Rabin,” pays homage to the assassinated Israeli leader. This is art with a focus both specific and multifaceted, at once celebrating his legacy, mourning his untimely passing and reflecting on the fragility of Israeli life.

The show’s centerpiece may be Peter Max’s portrait, in which a benevolent-looking Rabin is at the center of a swirl of color. Other warm portraits include Adayo Pilo’s muted “A Private Mourning,” with the leader’s face etched in blue hues against black.

More provocative gestures are found in some of the poster art, such as David Tartakover’s “Happy New Fear,” with a crisp image of a handgun. Harold Rubin’s “Shalom Haver” is an expressionistic image of Rabin at the moment of the assassin’s attack, his jaggedly rendered body spattered with blood. The gallery is also holding a group photography show, “A Mosaic of Images of Israel.” Photographers such as Yoshi Hashimoto and Ruth Orkin illustrate in striking and sensitive images the strong fabric of a nation under siege, yet fueled by a resilient spirit.

“Three Faces of Rabin” includes a performance Saturday at 7:30 p.m. by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, conducted by Noreen Green, performing Aaron Zigman’s tone poem, “Rabin.” Rabin’s son, Yuval Rabin, will speak.

BE THERE

“Recent Gestural Painting” through April 3 at the Century Gallery, 13000 Sayre St., Sylmar. Gallery hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, noon-4 p.m. Saturday; (818) 362-3220.

“Shalom Haver” through April 4 at the Finegood Art Gallery, Bernard Milken Jewish Community Center, 22622 Vanowen St., West Hills. Gallery hours: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday; (818) 716-1773.