LA CIENEGA AREA

Peter Charles is a Washington, D.C.-based sculptor whose wall and free-standing constructions attempt to blur distinctions between the representational object--in this case a series of vessels--and the column or pedestal that supports it. Various urns and vases of flowers in burnished steel and lacquered wood are perched upon tall, occasionally precarious bases that suggest totems or ritual objects. The work’s strength lies in its ability to vacillate between a self-referential industrial vocabulary of reductive abstraction and allusion to more organic elements, whether anthropomorphic (as in a column that suggests a pair of women’s legs) or cultural (primitive trophies and ancient artifacts). While Charles’ work is often praised for its elegance and craftsmanship, there are enough rough edges and quirky details to prevent it from falling into the mire of slick collectibles.

In the rear gallery, Bay Area painter Joseph Hughes offers color-field abstractions that build up several vertical layers of contrasting and complementary pigments to create a superficial appearance of homogeneity. Ranging from cool grays to more vibrant reds and yellows, the works are curiously dead and unaffecting, producing little or no retinal oscillation or modulation to transcend their material makeup. As this appears to belie the work’s whole intent, something must have got lost in translation. (Koplin Gallery, 8225 1/2 Santa Monica Blvd., to July 11.)