The art-historical imagery of Pat Steir's earlier paintings disappeared several years ago, leaving behind drips and splatters evoking waves and waterfalls.

And Groff Conklin, in whom it evoked "alternate waves of incredulous laughter and dull, acid boredom" because, he suspected, "science fiction is growing up and leaving these primitive artifacts behind."

It tries to create a dynamic way while a geometric shape rises and twists, like a wave, like the use in the bottom of the form of the pointed arch that extends as evoking waves of the sea, hence its name.

It was packed with slender towers, sloping and curved structures that evoked waves and aquatic themes, and sky bridges that, from a distance, looked like gossamer filaments.

Major roles are played by a skulking black cat and bright lines that seem to emanate from Eckstein's factory, variously evoking electrical power, sound waves, human will, the ties that bind and subversive thought.

In spite of their abysmal record, the demise of the "big books," with their 1,000-plus pages devoted to everything from farm implements to dresses, evoked waves of nostalgia.