Comment: Pence deals in a brand of art called "academic realism," meaning art by artists capable of painting just about any object to look exactly like it does in real life. That's all well and good, but the genre's gone a little haywire lately. The artists can only paint so many still lifes, landscapes, tromp l'oeils, and figural works before everything starts looking the same. So to remedy the situation, relieve the boredom, some artists are combining objects in weird and uncharacteristic ways such as a battle scene, but with fruits and vegetables instead of soldiers and weapons. Or a mouse perched on a spool looking at a little painting on cardborad which rests on an easel, a Ritz cracker tacked to the wall in the background. Or the twin towers of the World Trade Center going up in flames, set in a Maxfielf Parrish-type landscape. Artistic contortionism, long on skills, but maybe short on ideas. "Because I can" is not necessarily adequate justification for doing it. John Pence Gallery, by the way, is perhaps the most beautifully appointed in The City-- well worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood.