GALLERIES

Boston Museum of Fine Arts. A few years ago the MFA shuffled its French impressionist paintings from permanent display to the special exhibition rooms, presenting the rerun of these favorites as a new show. These all too familiar paintings were a disappointing sight to those who had paid the extra admission price. The only consolation was a room full of rarely shown American impressionist oils and watercolors whose novelty if nothing else made for you yearn more. This desire was likely to be unfulfilled--museums usually give space to European art rather than the more derivative American art.

Finally the MFA has an incentive to unearth its strong American art collection. The Bicentennial has flushed American art out of storage and embellished it with historical dioramas, slidetapes and music in two shows, "Paul Revere's Boston" and "Valiant Upstarts." All the summer offerings are in American art. This includes folk art paintings which look like their creation were pshchics, magicians, or the forerunners of mad scientists, artists who delighted in optical distortions. One gripping painting in warped perspective is of a girl whose eyes are painted in super sharp focus. The focus blurs out inconspicuously in everwidening circles so that the girl seems to stare intensely out of the painting and at first glance you can't understand why.

The museum is also giving its due to watercolors with a 19th and 20th century watercolor show. Its diversity should satisfy museum audiences' curiosity developed from years of small glimpses of this for some reason neglected medium.

The only weak summer show is the contemporary exhibit which consists of works by enticing names like Mark Rothko, Kenneth Noland, and Robert Motherwell. These paintings are shown in a sick yellow light made uneven by baby spots. This would be disastrous for any paintings but especially these--most rely heavily on color impact. The only painting which looks decent Is one of Clyfford Still's; he was after horrifying color for his craggy paintings anyway.

Street Art. Artists are on exhslibit this month. The ICA sponsored "Works in Progress" consists of ten artists at work along the Freedom Trail. The results are not the cliches you'd expect--there's no-one in Revolutionary War dress. Instead there are prominent local artists like Carpenter Center animator, Mary Beams. She is known for her dancing penis animations but her subject at the North End Mail is an antique film projector. "Works in Progress" is billed as a chance for the public to see some of Boston's "hidden resources." The people who hang out at the North End Mail may not feel that strongly but do regularly quiz Beams on her progress over the hot August days.