THE BUSY HONEYBEE

Mel Furakawa's precisely shaded drawings see bees and their hives from modernistic, almost Escherian, perspectives -- internal views superimposed on external views, the inside of a beehive dominated by an eye peering through the opening, etc. Invevitably, these elegant abstractions demand comparison with Portal's dreamlike projections of Russell's Honeybees (1967), but if Kohn's text makes no attempt to strive for Russell's poetic effects, it goes deeper into the facts introducing the ritual dances by which the location of flowers is communicated and the techniques of beekeeping. If you have room for yet another . . . Honeybee, this one should entertain the sophisticated eye.