Collisions in Nature

The subject is deer, ostensibly, in the dream-fueled works of Marsha Effron Barron now showing at the Century Gallery. Using charcoal, graphite and chalk pastel, Barron creates rough, loose-edged drawings in which the familiar faces of the animals blend in with images of mirrors, lights and less identifiable shapes.

In one sense, Barron brings a new, personalized focus to the phrase “deer in the headlights” and also refers to the uneasy convergence of nature and post-industrialism.

Throw in the volatile meeting of innocence and machinery and it might seem she’s wielding art with a mission of eco-activism.

But Barron’s art is about more than wildlife. A raggedy, unfinished quality governs the art, from her recurring depiction of the animal motif to the end-product drawings on crinkled paper.

Vulnerability underscores the work, along with a dry wit.

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Sharing gallery space--and presenting a whole different artistic approach--are the abstract paintings of Richard Bruland. These are atmospheric works, both in effect and subject matter. Bruland’s paintings change character depending on the viewer’s perspective.

Up close, the cracking, peeling surfaces suggest the weathering, decaying effects of time.

From afar, they appear as studies in gentle color gradation and suggest varicolored sky scapes at sunset or sunrise. In a way, their allusions to nature make for a resonant link to Barron’s art.

The two-person show is a rarity for the Century Gallery, which usually holds group exhibitions.

In this more relaxed display, we get a stronger sense of who these artists are and where they’re going.

Mixed Media Parade: At the opposite end of the spectrum is the Brand Library, where a group show from the Collage Artists of America fills all available space with an abundance of ideas, materials, perspectives and residency.

Culled from artists around the country, from the San Fernando Valley to the East Coast, the works in the show become a giant collage that is almost too much to get a handle on.

Certain trees stand out in the forest. James X. Nora’s “Artist in a Box” is created inside a small, emptied box of chocolates reinvented as a little concoction.

The old-fashioned process of cut-and-paste yields surprising results in Tim Shields’ “Howl,” made with a neatly snipped, piecemeal strategy.

Overall, the image depicts civilization crumbling to a pile of rubble. Lois Ramirez’s “A Brief Remark” entails ambiguous smatterings of letters and numbers.

But they’re used for a purely textural effect, with nothing incriminating or enticing. Northridge-based artist Mark Taylor’s “Local” is a big, brutish and dark abstraction of a piece built up from metal, wax, gloppy paint and plenty of what-not.

Ellen Westendorf Lane from Topanga shows “Leaving Home,” the picture of sad subtlety. Weathered paper, a faded map and antique photos evoke departure and wistfulness.

“California Gothic,” by Eva Kolosvary-Stupler shows plastic anatomical models in a house-shaped wooden frame.

It’s not a pretty picture, but it’s a tidily constructed assemblage.

There is something kooky and charming about Studio City-based artist Anne Couk’s “Summer Vacation,” with its stew of non sequiturs and the way she plots them compositionally.

We get a sense of frothy folklore through the window of an inspired, daydreaming mind.

She supports the stereotype, however valid, that collage artists tend to be daydreamers at heart.

BE THERE

Marsha Effron Barron and Richard Bruland, through Oct. 23 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. Collage Artists of America, through Oct. 23 at the Brand Library Art Galleries, 1601 W. Mountain St., Glendale. Gallery hours: 1-9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 1-6 p.m. Wednesday, 1-5 p.m. Friday-Saturday. (818) 548-2051.