Hung in Occidental’s auditorium lobby, the exhibit has a curiously transient, uneasy air. Works were selected from artists of the Comara Gallery by Occidental art professor, Constance Perkins. It is slated to travel to such exotic spots as Utah and Anchorage under the Western Association of Art Museums. Miss Perkins’ idea was to group works reflecting the effect of Pop yet somehow avoid that stance. It seemed that the recurrent parallel was Pop’s ironical detachment.

By definition we face works which stand in the same relation to the avant-garde as did, say, Fra Angelico to Pollaiuolo. Mixed in with admiration for Rauschenberg, Johns, Dada and that lot there is a respect for tradition that is less apparent in the works themselves than in our growing assurance that we smell timidity here. Nothing is quite as outrageous as it ought to be under the circumstances. Such a show, mounted on a small budget in indifferent physical surroundings and employing a theme that suggests the peripheral, tasks the viewer’s good nature. An effort does not go unrewarded.

Ward Kimball is an existentialist toymaker of considerable ingenuity; his “North, South, West, East Lynn” is a delicious bit of ironical entertainment—a full-length portrait cutout with a moving box for the head. On each plane there is a different position of the head of a scruffy artist-type. Jack Stuck, criticized for limitations clearly beyond his intentions, says funny things visually. His inept and paunchy Dagwood who is constantly trapped in some formal situation while exposed in nude profile of dirty-shorts grey canvas is a poignant figure.

Sculptors John Battenberg and Roger Baird, both show small twisted-metal pieces referring to old airplanes’ and flags, respectively. Not always clearly related to the theme, other contributors merit more mention than there is space for. Many are young, and one hopes they will not finish on the edge of anything. They are: R. Hartman, Paul Pernisch, Ronald Grow, Ihle, Tom Akawie, Dennis Beall, D. McClellan, G.R. Kerciu, Ramon Cadiz, Pat Tavenner, Ed Higgins, and Lew Carlson.

—William Wilson