Gallery chronicle [excerpted]

A final word about a must-see show. The painter Paul Resika has now found a home, after the collapse of Salander-O'Reilly Gal­leries, at the new Chelsea beachhead of Lori Bookstein Fine Art. His first show at the gallery takes up the three bugaboos of modern subject matter—sunsets, sail boats, and lighthouses—and makes every brush stroke count. This latest work could be the basis of a tutorial on how to put paint on canvas. The geometry of the taut series marks out space in a constructivist shorthand of ships at sea. For such familiar subject matter, the work is a rare delight. Abstract and representational tension is at play while the color-rich brush work fills each shape with energy. Resika is a modern master delighting in his supreme command of color, line, and form—and it is a delight to behold.