LA CIENEGA AREA

“Views: Interior/Exterior” is a worthy group theme exhibition reminding us of the ambiance created by art that treats street, field, room and friend alike as objects of formal observation. Most all the 18 or so artists represented convey that pleasant, calm feeling that goes with lolling on bus-stop bench or greensward and perusing the terrain without really focusing on anything.

The result is a combination of pure meditative mood and a certain amount of unforced emotional seepage. Mary Fish, for example, sees a world pulsing with natural fecundity, whether she’s looking at a tomboy in a field of flowers or a bowl of raspberries in the kitchen.

When Jim Doolin looks at downtown L.A. at night, he doesn’t miss its ominous back street bleakness but can’t resist its glamour.

A large contingent of the artists are Easterners and it’s hard to miss a certain buttoned-up view of things, ranging from Fairfield Porter’s reticent affection to Philip Pearlstein’s clinical nastiness.

Hardly a painter here has nothing interesting to tell us. Some of the weaker ones are bolstered by good company provided by Alice Neel, Alex Katz and Rackstraw Downes. This is a show that adds itself up as well as sorting itself out. In total, it’s a show about a contingent of artists successfully painting more conservatively than any in living memory. Most find their closest predecessors in the 19th Century. (Koplin Gallery, 8225 1/2 Santa Monica Blvd., to May 25.)