PATRICK FAULHABER

PATRICK FAULHABER

DANESE

The postcard-size oils on wood blocks that make up Patrick Faulhaber's "Texas Paintings" seem to know their limits as images, but they still intrude into space, demanding attention. What I like about these works is their arrogant modesty: Physical objects inscribed with deceptively pretty scenes, they resonate with an odd intimacy because of their size, even as their "sculptural" character ironically gives them a sense of monumentality. All are "handy," if hard to hold because of their bulk.

At first glance, these works look like American Scene pictures, neoregionalist images of small-town America. But unlike those of Thomas Hart Benton and …