Two small paintings by James Monte are the best in the show. Monte is currently concerned with symbolic doors, windows, entrances, i.e., with experiential subject matter as a frame, threshold or beginning. In these paintings Monte handles the problem of boundary and closure by painting a cluster of forms, breaking them off suddenly and starting other clusters. From this he obtains a magic box effect that is well and tastefully made. Gerd Stern shows a small relief sculpture poem, a wooden arch mounted on an aluminum sheet. Titled “Help,” the two ends of the arch are wrapped with semi-random phrases clipped from newspapers which read like the seven deadly sins. James Melchert and Win Ng show excellent pottery. Win Ng’s ceramic sculpture is, at times, almost too elegant.

—Joanna C. Magloff