“A painting is an object of culture that attempts to replicate the processes of nature,” Lucas Reiner once wrote. This concept is evident in the artist’s paintings of trees, which he renders with the same care as formal portraits. Reiner finds his subjects while driving through his native Los Angeles; back in the studio, he usually singles out a lone tree, painting its details in oils mixed with wax. The backdrop to these images is the smoggy California atmosphere, a gauzy, layered mist captured as ethereally as Reiner’s paintings of smoke dissipating from an exploding firework. The work is formally rigorous, as the artist paints, erases, and paints again, building up texture and contrast while simultaneously scraping paint down to the canvas.