Philadelphia Inquirer Sun, May 15, 2005

Wallingford. Too many group shows come unstuck because of a weakness in their theme, or a failure to carry it out. "Oil and Wax: Chapter and Verse" at the Community Arts Center is a pleasure to come across as it is foolproof in that regard, and an unusual show besides.

But is this display a spunky attempt to inject life into a painting method used by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians and commonly thought either extinct or deep in the doldrums? Persistent evidence, supported here, suggests the latter.

This "national" exhibit of art made by combining oil and wax features paintings from at least seven states by 22 artists, about half of them local. Organized by Alan Soffer of Wallingford, the display is bracingly open and eclectic and relatively easy to make your own appraisal because the show is in a sense loose and anecdotal rather than aloof and formal.

The most arresting works are two pieces concerned with human presence, by Frank Hyder of Philadelphia and a pair of still lifes of heroic size by Jacqui Cornette. Philadelphians Tremain Smith and Michelle Marcuse outshine the rest of the field, and abstractions by Elise Freda are unusually fresh. Meanwhile, several ebullient constructed flat pieces by Leslie Giuliani may be the zippiest things on view, their bounce giving an emphatic twist to the show as a whole.

Community Arts Center, 414 Plush Mill Rd, Wallingford.

To June 18. Mondays-Thursdays 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m., Fridays 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturdays 9 a.m.-2 p.m. 610-566-1713.

Contact art critic Victoria Donohoe at The Inquirer, 800 River Rd., Conshohocken, Pa. 19428.