Martha Rochlin and Drew DeShong

For anyone who would risk his soul by approaching the Audio Lab where (as the ads reveal) nearly nude sirens tempt the will of all passers-by, I strongly recommend a visit next door to the Cambridge Art Association. The two College seniors now exhibiting there deserve a good deal of attention.

Both concentrate on people, though in quite different respects. Martha Rochlin paints the man himself and delves his character and his relation with others. Drew DeShong seems more interested in a strange and mystical atmosphere that diminishes man's character within its vastness and complexity.

I am practically impressed with Miss Rochlin's work, which shows considerable boldness and spontaneity, and a fine sense of composition. She attains a high level of drama by focusing entirely on a single subject, eliminating the extraneous or inessential, and framing what remains with little or no margin. She attacks with large juicy strokes. And her colors are generally bright, though her mood tends towards somberness. She is a fascinating artist with, one feels, a deep perception that will receive increasingly precise expression.

Mr. De Shong's work is more developed. It is intricate and colorful, fanciful, decorative and fairly experimental. He frequently interweaves subject with enveloping background, and also interweaves various techniques: for example he will, sketch an imprecise background and subject base of splashy color and etch or pen his subject into it. Although there is a slight tendency for technique to overshadow insight, Mr. DeShong's production is certainly most pleasant.