Highlight Galleryin San Francisco presents “new paintings and not so new” by the American poet and painter Rene Ricard. On view are numerous works created over the past decade by Ricard are presented. The paintings consist of oil on linen with hand-painted poems in Ricard’s signature font over “poison green” canvasses and over figurative paintings taking inspiraton from various photographic sources. Ricard has served as mentor, muse, inspiration and critic for the New York City art scene for the past four decades. He was also a seminal figure in Andy Warhol's factory appearing in many of his films. In 1981, he wrote the cover article “Radiant Child” in Art Forum magazine, and he since then has been credited in helping Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring transform from underground figures to art stars. The exhibition will be on view until December 9 at Highlight Gallery, 17 Kearny Street San Francisco, CA. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper