A lot of what Frank Stella called “suburban abstraction” crops up on the West Coast because abstract art has even less of a history here than elsewhere. But once in a while, you encounter indigenous abstract work that can hold its own in any context. The recent work of Oakland painter Rick Arnitz, which turned up at an out-of-the-way cooperative gallery, is a case in point.

Arnitz’s painting appears to be backed by no program or theory. In fact, until recently, his work was goofy with images depicting what looked like landscapes filled with boulders or possibly licorice gumdrops. His interest in