It is perhaps not surprising that a group show at this gallery of small, inexpensive works for giving should turn into a first-rate drawing exhibition. In many cases the real strength of the gallery artists lies in their ability to draw. Charles Gill, for one, nearly always draws well. There is a certain inherent strength in the way he breaks up a drawing from within to reflect the picture edge (in a manner so stylized as to make the comment ironic). Gill will draw a nude, and bisect the sketch with a horizontal line. Although nothing has really been interrupted, one tends to read the drawing as two separate images.
Boyd Allen shows several fine tempera paintings. In subject matter they are a potpourri of his imagery (doors, disaster, i.e., the bomb, exits, entrances, boundaries). The synthesis seems to do the paintings no harm because they are all richly worked and well sustained. Howard Margolis also shows tempera paintings. His command of this medium is considerable. Ostensibly landscapes, most of the space in any one painting is a murky, airless, matte color. On this surface he applies minute patches and forms in brilliant shades, as if he had slit the paper with a knife and inserted jewels into it. These tiny works are charmingly and confidently executed. Richard McLean displays some of his more subtle collages. Heavily veiled in black, the faces and figures, seen as through a peephole are erotic and suggestive.
There are a very large number of small paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture and it is not possible to discuss them all. The high caliber of the show as a whole is impressive; it holds together in its sum as well as in its parts. The exhibit was beautifully hung.
—Joanna C. Magloff
