Peter Frank reviews a recent exhibition of works by Gary Lang at ACE Gallery, Beverly Hills.

Frank writes: "The concentric circle, or target, has been one of the predominant motifs in American abstract painting for the last half-century or more, and, as a result, to wring unexpected changes from it has become increasingly difficult. Gary Lang has made the multi-orbital composition his own neither by ignoring nor by worrying about Kenneth Noland, Jasper Johns, Tadasky, or even Don Suggs, but by pursuing the format as a potentially infinite realm of perception—less a motif or even framework for conceptual examination than as a stage for visual, and tactile, stimulation. Lang, who has been painting circles for over three decades, has personalized his approach to that pursuit, employing intuitive, optically sensitive color sequences and allowing the application of paint to evince his hand."