Santa Monica

The Pop art, comic book female nudes of Tom Wesselmann attain a level of sophistication by masquerading as spontaneous wall drawing. Thin lines of laser-cut metal make the sexy nudes look like bold black marker figure studies scrawled directly on the gallery walls. Typically, Wesselmann’s takeoffs on Playboy sexuality are stereotyped figures with sensuality reduced to a suggestive pose and idealized hair, lips, legs and breasts. It all feels a bit tired, but the conversion of the drawing’s line into metal gives the works a welcome dose of invention and formality.

The white wall forms the negative space of these “drawings,” while the black-and-gray painted metal captures perfectly the freedom of the artist’s gesture as line. The drawing is expert, enlivening the cookie cutter blandness of the sexual stereotypes. But there’s no getting past the billboard vacuity of the nudes. It’s a little like looking at truck mud flaps designed by great artists. As they say on Madison Avenue, “What a concept.” (BlumHelman, 916 Colorado Ave., to Feb. 10.)