These surfaces vibrate with elongated masklike or robot faces. They invoke such extraneous electronic means to attract interest as sounding battery devices that click, moan, warble, or chatter when the light source is broken. It is a sound gimmick that presupposes some pictorial value. These paintings are hooked to a batteried esthetic. (Shall we salt and taste the flesh of Girl of the Golden West as well as hear her titter?) A small group of fine oil paintings accompanies the publicized groaners—Nude on Couch is a highly sensitive, perfectly painterly experience needing no gimmick; the silent power that these small paintings contain are enough. When art depends upon a battery or a loose connection for sale, celebrity, or prominence, where will such a fad find root? Will the real Rod Briggs please stand up?

—S. C. Schoneberg