Banausia prevails in the less-than-professional paintings exhibited by Pat Berger, Nick Brigante, Evelyn Carpenter, Agnes Kellog, Steven Kissel, Dick Poole, Irma Rosien, J. B. Thompson. Obsequiously nonfigurative, most of the aspirants welter among abstract clichés from Kissel’s belabored abstract-impressionism to Brigante’s slick ornamental bravado in jagging black ink across such bright white paper. Only Dick Poole’s work rises above the hackneyed imagery of the group. His interest in getting at the configuration of social contexts has forced him to observe something besides other people’s paintings. In Banquet, a small gouache, the speaker’s rostrum and meeting-hall-posts are structured into a grid across both outstretched American flag and restless human shapes, creating a homely narrowness of perspective. With humor, Poole astutely hints at the shallowness in public occasions.
—Rosalind G. Wholden
