Art: Horse Cave Boy in Paris

Paris gallery owners estimate that there are about 100 serious U.S. painters now working in Paris, but few of them have attracted as much attention as 35-year-old Joe Downing, who comes from Horse Cave, Ky. (pop. 1,545). With scraps of specially treated paper and a stapler to fasten them together, Downing produces "paintings" that have brought French critics under his spell.

After an Army stint in Europe during World War II, Downing decided to become an optometrist because the only optometrist he had ever known back home was rich enough to own a Cadillac....

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