Santa Monica

Earlier apocalyptic figures by Brad Durham had a coarseness we couldn’t quite believe. Handsome, resolved new work may show why the old style seemed forced.

Current works feature romantic, well-modulated smudges of oil painted to look like a thick billowy cloud cover hovering over dark underpaint. Durham incises careful geometric diagrams that appear lifted from medieval alchemical texts. Sometimes, the sooty atmospheres cradle globs of deep green, mustard or fiery red, suggesting trees shrouded in the thick atmosphere of a Gothic novel.

Durham used to tuck tension between things temporal and things timeless--a thread of hope that was at odds with itself in Neo-Expressionist figures. In these new and lyrical works, Durham reiterates his belief that nature and man’s will to design and devise are part of some greater spiritual mystery, but he does this without compromising his innately poetic and precise painting style. (Karl Bornstein Gallery, 1658 1/2 10th St., to Oct. 28.)