GALLERIES

Reviews by Leah Ollman. Compiled by Grace Krilanovich.

Critics’ Choices

Daniel Zeller The artist manages to produce spectacles with just pen and ink and sometimes just pencil. His drawings, many the size of an ordinary sketchbook page, are pulse-quickening, reason-defying wonders, testaments to the boundless potential of the human mind and hand. The work maps a circuitry that hints of biology, botany, topography and more in minutely striated forms and labyrinthine patterns. There is something of science here and also something of the logic-bending psychedelic. These look like the doodles of an obsessive savant. Daniel Weinberg Gallery, 6148 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Tue.-Sat., 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; ends today. (323) 954-8425.

Richard T. Walker: successive inconceivable events Walker’s short video, “successive inconceivable events,” is part romantic meditation, part confessional love letter. The object of Walker’s affection? The landscape itself, which he addresses in the voice of a confused suitor, unsure where he stands. He brings our estrangement from nature down to an intimate level in a tone that’s accessible and slightly absurd, but ultimately reverential. Christopher Grimes Gallery, 916 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica. Tue.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; ends Feb. 27. (310) 587-3373.

Continuing

Rodney McMillian: Succulent McMillian’s sculptures and video feel like dilute outtakes from the artist’s ongoing, resonant meditation on American history, race, power and the body. The floor of the central gallery is scattered with potted plants and tall painted columns. A black vinyl patchwork wall hanging is meant to depict a sphincter. This is a dismal show, scattered and slight. Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, 5795 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City. Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and by appointment.; ends March 6. (323) 933-2117.