The latest two presentations at the always interesting Molly Barnes Salon, where art world insiders talk of their work to their peers, were of a kind - leaning towards the decorative, eye pleasing mode of artistic endeavor and personal expression without any disturbing social comment or angst running deep beneath the surface.

On Thursday the well known commentator Walter Robinson, who began his painting career early only to be sidetracked into serving as an art critic for some years, ending up on ArtNet before returning to his first love, showed us his work based on ads and romance book covers which enhanced the original conceptions with a painterly flair and a complex color palette.

On Friday, the energetic and wide ranging dealer Susan Eley described how her initial foray into art gallery management began in the Upper West Side living quarters of the house she shares with her husband, who is in finance, and subsequently expanded along with her family (she now has three children) into the separate ground floor gallery which is now well known for the range of artists and styles she shows.

The two well informed speakers shared a becoming modesty about their own artistic goals. Walter Robinson emphasized that his artistic purpose went no further than simply to give in to his need to paint, and Susan Eley told us that she was unable to discover any artistic talent in herself, or even her children yet, but she was able to decide very quickly whether or not it existed in someone else and to see that a new artist would be worth showing.

One aspect she insisted upon was to discern that they were not static, painting the same thing over and over, but developing and exploring new ground over time.