PASADENA

Dave DeVries claims that his photographs “explore the relationship between changes in time, space and content when two images collide.” Would that it were so. Though DeVries’ papers are in order on a technical and historical level, he has no distinctive vision of his own, nor is his sense of composition up to snuff. Moreover, his central gimmick seems tricky and contrived.

DeVries’ basic formula is to pair two related images and bisect them with a thick black vertical stripe. He favors arty framing and cropping, frequently decapitates his subjects and is partial to oddly angled perspectives--we usually peer down or gaze up at a scene. As for subject matter, DeVries explores the K mart shopper’s universe of out-of-shape, polyester-clad Americans whom he depicts relaxing at county fairs, backyard barbecues and patio picnics. DeVries owes a clear debt to Roberts Frank and Heinecken in his choice of milieu, but his photographs lack the compassion central to pictures by those fine artists. As in work by Avedon, DeVries’ warts ‘n’ all portraits are poisoned by a subtle current of cruelty.

DeVries ought to consider rethinking his work from the ground up. There’s no good reason for these images to be paired as they are; they fail to ignite one another, and that bisecting black line can be downright annoying. It’s particularly bothersome in a series of sweeping landscapes where it serves no purpose but to spoil the view. (Cityscape Foto Gallery, 97 E. Colorado Blvd., to July 15.)