Wilshire Center

To call the art of Pablo Campos eclectic is an understatement. A quick perusal leads to the conclusion that this is a group show rather than a one-man offering. Campos shows patterned serigraphs harking back to the late ‘70s and gutsy constructions crafted from fake matches, dime-store gems and other bits of bric-a-brac. Then there are large illusionistic abstractions that look like a bird’s-eye view on a deep bed of fabric bits. Finally, there are figurative paintings with spiritual and sexual imagery.

What unifies all the work is an interest in pattern, not the feminist or post-minimal kind but patterns that congeal into symbols with loaded meanings. The most obvious of these--the cross--creeps into almost every work. In “Crossing,” methodical flecks of color arrange themselves into a huge, central, short-armed cross complete with religious and military associations. In “Fire and Ice,” the stamped-out crosshatches used on manhole covers resemble mysterious calligraphy. In the less convincing construction, “Crusades,” the red cross on a white ground--herald for charity and valor--slowly dematerializes into a mushy, unreadable heap.

We’re never quite sure what all this means and in many pieces Campos teeters between an open- ended symbolism and a sense of whimsy that cancel each other out. However, in the impressive dream realism of “Bull Cheetah” (depicting a couple swimming through the heavy atmosphere of a nightmarish chamber), Campos is technically and affectively most lucid. (Ivey Gallery, 154 N. La Brea Ave., to Aug. 27.)