GALLERIES:Power in primitivism, but energy is wasted

But the figure in the background reveals what happens when the execution of simple techniques show too much restraint. So flat and simplified is she, that she seems almost a mistake in the composition, with no features, cartoonish hair and geometric skirt and shirt. She seems pointless.

Story can also stumble in the use of heavy outlining. "Mixed Blessings" (48x48) features a central figure, the Virgin Mary, hovering over a seething mass of seals. But she is so heavily outlined that her crudeness and flatness seem to come more from a lack of expertise in painting the human figure then from a desire to express something about her symbolism. The same is true for the seals below: they lack force and life, and therefore seem pointless.

Uneven gloss on the surface of "Mixed Blessings" also adds to its amateurish look, making the painting appear unfinished. There is a difference between energetic brushwork and something careless.

In order to carry off the exaggerated colors and shapes of such an approach, the painter has to walk a fine line between simple and simplistic. Story sometimes does both in the same canvas.

This is a shame, because the idea of the painting, with its butter yellow sky and zooming bi-planes in the background, is just bizarre enough to be intriguing. But the execution is so distracting, you don't really have time to explore its visual suggestions.

"Leapfrog" (36x36) is another example of this. In it, a figure looking a lot like Mark Twain plays the game of the title with a figure looking a lot like Kurt Vonnegut — in a library. This is puzzling, but witty, and I'm willing to go with it. But the execution of the Vonnegut figure's hands (the test of any figure painter's skill) is so poor as to totally distract from the meaning.

Story also has a series of small (12x12) mixed media portraits in the show, mostly focused on serial killers such as John Wayne Gayce and Peter Sutcliffe. Some are more interesting than others, but all feature the same hallmarks: flat head shots with heavy outlining and uncomplicated color mixing.

The overall impression is an energy at the very limit of its skill, an intelligence pushing itself to its edge. This makes the show worth seeing, but in the end, disappointing.