Under the auspices of the Spanish Government, San Francisco State College has thrown together an exhibit of Who’s Who in Spanish Art, Who’s Not Who, and Who Wants to be Who.

Upon entering the converted canteen where the pictures are hung, one notes a veritable barricade of plastic-covered setees with three or four prone students in various states of somnolence. (The building which houses this exhibit had been designated as “The Gallery Lounge” by some unnamed educator.) Some of the paintings, oddly enough, are hung on the walls. Others are suspended back to back on aluminum poles that have been judiciously placed so as not to interfere with the setees. None of the paintings are labeled as to date of execution, title of work or size of support. About one-third of the paintings have no labels at all.

Lucio Munoz’ stained and incised wood relief is beautifully handled with both sculptural force and painterly vitality wedded successfully in the example shown. Jorge Castillo is represented with a figure painting in which the image seems overwhelmed by the thick cracking layers of paint which remind one of vegetal decay. J. J. Tharrats combines action technique with hard-edge discipline. Rafael Conogar, who exhibited at the last Venice shindig, is represented here by a thickly-worked painting on a thinly-painted plum-colored ground.

In the future, it would seem worthwhile for the officialdom at San Francisco State College to re-examine its current scatter-shot policy of arranging and exhibiting important shows.

—James Monte