The abstractions in “Variations,” a pleasant show currently on the third floor of LACMA's Broad Contemporary building, are mostly from the past few years. Their savvy is what stands out when you see them all together. This is work by artists who have seen a lot of other art and images, and used it to make thoughful, under-control “variations” — there's not much aggressiveness or all-out expressiveness in this show. One of the most regal, Mark Bradford's huge Shoot the Coin, is a sanded-down, smoothed-out, layered and painted collage. It looks like some sort of graph or network that's been tastefully, methodically obscured. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Miracle Mile; through March 22. (323) 857-6000, lacma.org.

Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays-Sundays. Starts: Aug. 24. Continues through March 22, 2014
(Expired: 03/22/15)

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