Cleopatra is the theme of this group of collages, paintings, and drawings. Most are by Joseph Cook himself, with a few done especially for the exhibition by his friends. The movie extravaganza receives most of the attention, with emphasis on the much publicized antics of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. One paint­ing-collage shows a man and a woman reclining on a beach. The female torso is rendered in sun-tanned oil paint, and topped by a paper cut-out of Elizabeth Taylor’s head; a white paper bikini par­tially conceals the famous curves. The rest of the show follows along the same line. It is occasionally amusing, and that’s about all. The J. Cook Gallery has been open only a few weeks. Perhaps in the future, the exhibitions will improve.

—Virginia Allen