Artist Won Ju Lim studied architecture before she studied sculpture and began her career in the early aughts with crisp, colorful models of stacked cities and local landmarks. Her Broken Landscapes series, which she exhibited for the first time circa 2007, felt darker. She would re-create local and not-so-local vistas — hills inspired by Highland Park or by Hawaii — in miniature, building small houses and making small trees. Then she might drip Pepto Bismol–colored paint down these terrains before enclosing them in Plexiglas vitrines. The effect is romantically apocalyptic. You feel you're looking through the glass at historical ruins on par with Pompeii. A group of Lim's Broken Landscape pieces is at Patrick Painter in her show “Vitrines.” Patrick Painter; 2525 Michigan Ave., Unit A8; through April 20. (310) 264-5988, patrickpainter.com.

Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: March 16. Continues through April 20, 2013

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.