As part of Los Angeles-based gallery LAXART's LAPD (LA Public Domain) series, subtitled "Artistic and Curatorial Interventions in Experimental Contexts," curator Lauri Firstenberg offers East Coasters a look at a new series of paintings by Thomas Lawson. As Dean of the School of Art at Cal Arts, Lawson encounters — and employs — a range of media beyond painting in the pursuit of his emotionally and politically charged projects. In New World, however, the focus remains on paint, as Lawson uses his unique style of rough-hewn, pattern-based imagery influenced by illustration, photojournalism, and commercial tropes that illuminate darker aspects of pop culture.