Davis'sOwh!InSanPao. Thesharp,artificialcolor,themechanicallystraightedges,themannerinwhichgeometricformscutthrougheach
other,thesenseofclearlyseenimageswhichwehavesomehownothad
timetocomprehendandrelateonetoanother,thetremendousimportance
ofthewrittenword—allseemtodefineacharacteristicallyurbanmood.
Eventhetitleaddstothejoltofitsstaccatoimpact.
Butourpreoccupationwiththeworksofman,withhisinteriormentalprocesses,ratherthanwithhimselforwithhisenvironmentascomplete
andself-sufficientthings,isexpressedinotherandunexpectedways.Two
paintersinthepresentexhibitionhavearrivedatsomewhatsimilarnegative
solutionstotheproblemofexpressingman'srelationshiptohissurround-
ings. David Perlin's TheJacket and WalterStein's ThePillow both
showusobjectswhichareintimatelyconnectedwithcompletelypersonal
human activities. These abandoned objects are superimposedon and
sustainedbytheworldofnature.Somehow,thereisanunexpectedpoign-
anceinthemoodarousedbythesesimplestatementswhichcarrymean-
ingsfarinexcessofamerelyliteraryreading.Asomewhatsimilarmood
oflonelinessandabandonmentissensitivelyexpressedbyHelenLunde-
berg'sTheMirrorand, moredramatically, byRaymondMintz's The
Kitchen.Theseindirectthemesrely,inasense,fortheirsymbolicmean-
inguponpreciselythosematerialobjectswhicharenotincludedinthe
compositionalelementsatall,butwhichareinevitablybroughttomind
bytheirveryabsence.Itisathematiccounterparttotheoftenencountered
formalrelianceuponspaceratherthanmassiustheorganizingelementin
manymodernworks.
Thefinalstagebeyondanartwhichshiftstheempha.sisfrom manhimselftotheevidencesofman'sacti\ity,orevenmakesofhisab.scncea
primarytheme,isthecompletelynon-objectiveartwhichflourishestoday.
Thepresentexhibitioninevitablyincludesalargebodyofsuchwork.It
issurelynot difficulttounderstandthetremendouspullwhichsucha
pointofviewexertsonmanyartiststoday.Thedocumentaryrolewhich
paintingassumedinmanyperiodsinthepastisadequatelyfilledbyother
means.\Scaresurroundedtodaybyanintenseawarenessofforces,both