Ben Meyer reviews two shows of intimate abstractions, Alex Paik: Recapitulation Bop and Nicole Phungrasamee Fein: where, at Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, on view through November 10, 2012.

Meyer writes: "The overall impression of Paik’s works is synesthetic, not kinetic. The unique combination of musical notes, feelings and colors evoked by each piece could be different for any viewer depending on his/her sensibilities. The alteration of elements in each piece captures some degree of prelude and fugue, but only in the order and pattern that the viewer determines."

He continues: "Phungrasamee Fein’s Where features the tranquil, ordered and precise watercolors for which the artist, of San Francisco, has become known. Her colors waver on the edge of perception, presenting an atomized form of brush-dots that openly partakes in its own structure."