Wilshire Center

Peter Zecher continues to bend geometry to his bidding by juggling steel cubes, rings and cylinders into repetitively patterned constructions. Some are free-standing floor sculptures, others “float” high on the gallery walls, and still others are small table-top doodads. Although there are pleasures for the eye in trying to trace the way Zecher structures each piece, most of the work ultimately seems too ponderously literal, like a nerd’s doodle in math class blown up into three dimensions.

The idea of the infinitely repeatable modular unit now seems awfully close to an interior design concept; in fact, one Zecher piece, “Cube Line IV,” looks like those metal organizers that are supposed to tidy up your closet. Many of the new works are painted a single basic color--gold, red, black or turquoise--which tends to emphasize the “decorator” side of the work rather than the inventive linkages. On the plus side, some of the units are now more open and airy than Zecher’s tightly defined trademark shapes. Letting more air into a piece like “Fractured Cubes I” loosens things up a bit and lets us see the overall shape as sculpture with possible metaphorical associations rather than a hobby-kit obsession. (Zero One Gallery, 7025 Melrose Ave., to Feb. 20.)