In the usual welter of abstract expressionist shows around Manhattan last week, the one at the Saidenberg Gallery stood out by reason of its quietness, tenderness and lack of pretension. Gyorgy Kepes (pronounced Keppish) is the first to concede that his work looks pale beside that of more "muscular" practitioners of abstract expressionism. Their art, he adds mildly, "is like therapy; in a desperate situation one has to hit at whatever there is to hit. But there is danger when the defense mechanism becomes a gesture that everyone uses."
Green-eyed, Hungarian-born Artist Kepes, 53,...