“The art of painting, as I conceive of it, consists in representing through pictorial techniques the unforseen images that might appear to me at certain moments, whether my eyes are open or shut.”
—René Magritte.

It is these unforseen images which dominate a small but rewarding show at Rex Evans, which also includes work by some contemporary proponents of the unforseen: Phillip Curtis, Thomas Blackwell, Douglas McFadden, Allan Blizzard, Guido Biasi, and, especially interesting, Gerrie Gutman, whose doll-like, owlish women somehow recall the work of Leonor Fini. Two small “pebble-scrapes” by Yves Tanguy and some studies by Francis Picabia and Paul Delvaux also provide some idea of the scope of the Surrealist vision, but it is Magritte who is best represented. His work gives one some notion of what Herbert Read meant when he said that “the personality without contradiction . . . is incapable of entering into dialectical activity.”

This small exhibition makes one wish for a more comprehensive Surrealist show here to provide better perspective on its current manifestations.

—Joan Hugo