The exhibition of Bob Thompson and friends, now showing at Steven Harvey through Dec. 7, is fascinating, as not only do we see fabulous early pieces by Thompson himself, but also gain a sense of his influences – and his influence on others. One of Thompson’s first artworks, made for a printmaking class as a freshman at Louisville University, already shows a strong intuitive understanding of form, the distribution of lights and darks, and how to bring traditional western art themes into a personal style. We also see a powerful large oil painting of muted earth tones made during his sophomore year, soon after returning from a summer in Provincetown, a summer rich in art and new friendships. Jan Mueller, who had lived in Provincetown, had recently died, and became a kind of mentor, in that Thompson studied Mueller’s art, became friends with Mueller’s widow, and gained inspiration to use literary themes and painterly brushstrokes and color in his art. He also met Jay Milder and Gandy Brodie, artists who would become lifelong friends. Brody was a second-generation Abstract Expressionist whose art modeled the use of masklike figures in expressionist art that Thompson became known for. When Thompson left college after only two years and came to NYC, he lived with Milder, and later Red Grooms, and entered the circle of 1950s avant-garde artists through those he'd met in Provincetown. In NYC, Thompson also met Emilio Cruz, an American painter, poet, playwright, performance artist, and the two became fast friends. One of the pastels by Cruz in this exhibition could almost be mistaken as a work by Thompson, in its broad shapes of strong color and narrative overtones, and suggests how powerful Thompson’s artistic vision was to those around him. Similarly, the collaboration on exhibit by Thompson and another friend, Bill Barrell, where the hands of both artists are indistinguishable, as well as other work by Barrell, also imply how pervasive Thompson’s artistic force was, a give-and-take force palpable throughout the exhibition.