Roberto Gari finds his subject matter in Italy, but only superficially. His decorative style and inclination toward romantic illustration remove the painting from any immediacy of experience of time or place. His color, derived from Impressionism, is at the same time arbitrary, in an attempt to create a sensuous canvas. A moderately heavy impasto, achieved through use of the palette knife, is combined with a descriptive line that is either brushed on or scratched through. On the whole, the works meet the demands of a popular market but offer little more. The draftsmanship is not articulate enough nor the image free enough from its historical sources to have significance. Jay Robinson, on the other hand, turns to India in a series of works that attempt a romantic fusion of non-objective and literary styles of painting. Robinson, however, communicates far more through color and texture than he does through the image, which becomes forced, even obtrusive. The few canvases that are of a pure abstract nature come closer to expressing something of the mood of India than do any of the narrative paintings.

—Constance Perkins