(Johnson) 'INTRODUCTIONS' Three solo minishows: oblique, conceptually evocative photographs by Tim Davis; lurid and juicy paintings of ornate theater interiors by Emi Avora; and diverse drawings and photographs, some funny, some poetic, by Barry Ratoff.

Daniel studied the cover illustrations: lurid, cartoonish paintings of impossibly voluptuous women, naked, bound and gagged, and tormented by hypermuscular, whip-wielding men in leather costumes so glossy they looked wet.

The Final Reflection, the cover said, above a lurid painting showing a Klingon battle cruiser.

He had a flash in his mind of a seesaw, and stuffed toys and lurid paintings stuck to a refrigerator with magnets.

Ten days ago the big grisaille image of President Bush's face that was included in the show of Richard Phillips's lurid new paintings at the Friedrich Petzel Gallery in Chelsea looked vapid and slightly sarcastic.

Since that time Art has developed and flourished remarkably in the West Riding, and instead of the lurid paintings of twenty years ago we now have sensitive work stimulated by experience of the environment.

And then I made my way down one side of the church and up the other, the lurid paintings and statues captivating me.

Jumpy sat down with his coffee beneath the lurid painting of a bare-breasted myth-woman with several heads and wisps of clouds obscuring her nipples, done life-size in salmon pink, neon-green and gold, and because the rush hadn't started yet Mr. Sufyan noticed he was down in the dumps.

The Guardian commented: "Vine's lurid and gutsy paintings are causing a storm in the art world.

Mr. Ivie's tiny, lurid paintings are a pocket version of a "Masterpiece Theater" Gothic, with fearful lovers meeting in front of forbidding mansions on moonlit nights.