B2 Fine art Gallery offers "The Black Aesthetic," with more works by notable African-American artists including Milt Simmons, Thelma J. Streat, Paul Dusenbury, Richard Mayhew, Humbert Howard, Norman Lewis and the great Romare Bearden.

Simmons' paintings dominate this exhibition. His "Introspection" at six-by-eight feet is a dramatic, dark show-stopper reminiscent of El Greco with its elongated and convoluted male figure floating in a dark and stormy sky. The energy and mystery of this painting is captivating. The figure, by-the-way, is playing a flute, and next to this painting is a smaller painting in oil of raised board and strips and globs of ripped canvas called "Flutist." Both of these are powerful and bombastic.

Read Alec Clayton's full review of "Black Aesthetic In Abstract Expressonism" in the Music and Culture section.

"BLACK AESTHETIC IN ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM EXHIBITION," 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, till 9 p.m. Third Thursdays, through Nov. 29, B2 Fine Art Gallery, 711 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.238.5065