I'm glad I was able to attend the opening to the museum-quality exhibition of paintings by Laurie Fader and Cathy Diamond, up through Oct. 23, at Radiator Gallery in LIC. The show's title, "Luscious Wasteland," is perfect, as the paintings definitely are luscious. With complicated organizations referencing landscape but clearly emerging from the dream process of the rhythm of painting itself, both artists' work stand as emphatic statements of their own language, but also speak eloquently to each other, bringing out the suggested storytelling underlying their mysterious forms. Laurie's paintings glow with spaces inhabited by somewhat recognizable figures, while Cathy's bring us into an interwoven world where representational references seem to shift before our eyes as connections constantly reconfigure between the active elements seamlessly shifting from landscape to figure. Thank you, Patrick Neal, for curating this dialogue between such powerful artists. I highly recommend a trip to this show.