Eye of the Beholder

The NoHo arts district may still be an idea waiting to flower in any significant way, but there are hopeful signs along Lankershim Boulevard.

At the heart of an eventual scene is the Lankershim Arts Center, where theater has taken root and art exhibitions sometimes rear their head. A few blocks away, the newly opened Metro subway station links North Hollywood with the rest of Los Angeles, sans traffic.

Between those two spots is the Eclectic Cafe, a hip, comfortable eatery and hangout. Smart art graces the walls, in shows that change periodically. Currently, two new series by photographer Debra Borys are worth stopping in to see. The black-and-white imagery of the series called “Found Commentary” and the color work of “People of Rajasthan, India” are markedly different in form and content. But both look at the exotic in the everyday and vice versa.

Her black-and-white images take on commonplace ironies found mostly around Los Angeles, captured in nicely balanced compositions. The sheer visual poise of the images is sometimes more impressive than the attempts at social commentary contained in the subjects and their titles.

Romance and vandalism meet in “Is This Love?” its terms of endearment expressed with graffiti scrawled on bamboo stalks at UCLA. Rounded, shaven craniums, shot from behind at the Santa Monica Pier, are the subject of “Brothers With Big Heads.” The heads have contours that are echoed in the rhythmic arches of the roller coaster behind them.

An urban scene with the word “SKY” and a large arrow on the side of a building is called “In Case You Wondered,” another too-leading title for an otherwise fine visual statement for its own sake.

Wisely, Borys relies on color format in her images taken on a 1997 trip to Rajasthan, in northwest India. Here, she focuses on the rich hues found on the street, naturally enlivening fashions and buildings, a part of the fabric of life there. But human interest runs high in this series, by contrast with the more abstracted views of her other series.

“Sarangi Player” is a sympathetic portrait of an older musician playing the bowed instrument called the sarangi on the street, surrounded by colored fabrics and with a sad, wise look in his eyes. Tough, proud, young comrades clasp hands in solidarity in “Shoe-Shine Boys.”

One of the best shots in the show, “Old Man on Step,” makes especially choice use of color. Intense sunlight reveals and illuminates the subject’s dark weathered skin and a vivid yellow wall scrawled with black text behind him. The actual context of the scene is culturally telling: The elder man’s daughter is to be married, and the names of the bride and groom are advertised on the wall.

But even without understanding the back story, the image speaks loudly. The same goes for Borys’ best images. She has a gift for observation, both visual and humane.

BE THERE

“Found Commentary” and “People of Rajasthan, India,” by Debra Borys, indefinitely at Eclectic Cafe, 5156 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Hours: Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday; 9 a.m.-midnight. (818) 760-2233.