LA CIENEGA AREA

Were it not for 36 little black-and-white photographs of crumpled tin foil, displayed in a gallery office, the main attraction of James Welling’s exhibition would seem as empty of content as a Marimekko wall hanging. His acrylic-on-canvas paintings are hard-edge abstractions that look rather like enlarged close-ups of bubble formations. In each work, crisp black circles crowd against each other, leaving scalloped gaps of white between them. Though each arrangement is different and the square canvases come in two sizes, the paintings register as nothing more than mechanically produced graphic art with all the juice sucked out of it. There’s a certain buoyancy to these black balls and the high value contrast lends a touch of drama, but any attempt to ascribe emotional qualities to them rings hollow and probably runs contrary to the artist’s intention.

The photographs, on the other hand, invest a mundane kitchen aid with a mysterious presence. They also suggest that Welling’s painted decorations may actually have a history. In fact they do, though they did not grow from the exhibited photographs. Instead they began with computer generated images based on natural phenomena. That’s interesting--even important for those who need to justify art with a theory or process--but it doesn’t change the vacuous look of paintings that might have been created by a robot. (Kuhlenschmidt/Simon Gallery, 9000 Melrose Ave., to June 13.)