Recent paintings of Martin Lubner are shown at the Fleischer/Anhalt Gallery. Lubner’s efforts toward a pictorially dramatic lyricism have led him to experiment with a set of poly-triptych allegories that might be classified as a form of epic painting, and these pictures are among his most interesting in the current show. A thoroughly romantic stylist, Lubner employs at times an excess of painterly emotion, and many of the pictures could be classified as nostalgic, even sentimental. Paradoxically, however, these very excesses give his work its individual flavor and feeling. His portraits, where he has more immediate stimulus from his subject matter, come through with greater force and directness. Throughout the exhibition, one is impressed with Lubner’s vigorous dedication to his own very personal esthetic conviction.

—Estelle Kurzen