LA CIENEGA AREA

A group exhibition titled “California Masters� presents a portrait of the West Coast as a place of boundless creative diversity. Including works done over the past 50 years by 25 artists, the show also suggests a California that has lots of elbow room for artists; an exhilarating sense of freedom colors this work, much of which addresses issues of light and space. The show includes a number of interesting oddities--a painting done by Eugene Berman in 1938 titled “Trompe l’ Oeil� is a tres Post-Modern collage of elements--and many of the pieces are museum-quality works by the West’s most prominent artists. There’s a Robert Irwin disc, a 1961 Bengston chevron in blue, Ruscha’s 1968 oil-on-canvas “City� (one of his best-known works), Wayne Thiebaud’s homage to the lowly gum ball titled “Three Machines,� and ceramic cups by Ken Price and Ron Nagle. The choicest rarity on view is an exquisite figure study done by Diebenkorn in 1962. (Herbert Palmer Gallery, 802 N. La Cienega Blvd., to Jan. 10.)