Inner Circle

* What: Photographs by Aaron Jones and mixed media paintings by R.D. Anderson

* Where and when: Space Gallery, 765 Santa Fe Drive; through Feb. 28

* Circular reasoning: Since Michael Burnett opened Space Gallery on Larimer Street, it has changed dramatically - and that goes beyond a 2003 move to Santa Fe Drive. That relocation led to a better-defined format and a happy penchant for abstraction.

"Inner Circle" demonstrates that, with photographs by Aaron Jones on the left wall, paintings by R.D. Anderson on the right wall and a selection from the gallery stable in the back. (In the area next door: "The Egg and I," with paintings by Lisa Purdy that work that known object into abstract forms.)

Here, Anderson has expanded on paintings he presented in 2007. Trained in ceramics, the artist formerly known as Ryan Anderson has found a way to use resins and other materials to create shimmering surfaces in optically exciting patterns. Then, in some cases, he adds an overlay of matte material to contribute a sense of content. That includes the flat pink and gray applied decorative elements of Bloom, the soft nautical imagery of Ark and the cracked - and beautiful - center circle of Pangaea.

Meanwhile, Jones, winner of the gallery's 2008 juried art exhibit, plays visual photographic tricks by placing glass objects (a ball, an eye dropper, a test tube) in colored liquid in such a way that at first glance it appears as if you are looking at a slide from a biology class. They are completely engaging and born from invention.

* Information: 720-904-1088; spacegallery.org

Mary Chandler is the art and architecture critic. chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2677