Down the block at the new Carl Berg Gallery (6018 Wilshire Blvd.), Berg is showing work from Los Angeles artist Andre Yi, an MFA graduate from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. The exhibition, entitled “Floating City,” features eight works, all acrylic, ink and colored pencil on paper, depicting the sort of lower middle-class homes and food stands found in the diverse melting pot neighborhoods located between Beverly Hills and Downtown L.A.

Yi’s lovingly detailed structures make up only a small part of the works, which have lots of negative space (like the minimalist drawings by Toba Khedoori) and are set against a background of muted earth tones. All the works also feature distinct squiggly lines usually associated with water in Japanese wood block prints, but in Yi’s paintings they signify L.A.’s notorious smog conditions. Price: $1,800-$5,000. The show remains on view through Dec. December 20, 2003.

http://www.artnet.com/magazine/reviews/worman/worman12-2-03.asp