Michels ventures boldly into art that retrieves images that seem mythical, personal, and universal -- figures and landscapes we recognize at once though we have never seen anything like them. Lyrical, funny and fearless, joyous and scary, thesepaintings give us a lot to look at, if we take the time to look: a hot dog repurposed as a life raft, a hyena out of ZapCommix, a woodpecker-gladiator in ladybug armor, alligators, flesh, underwear, gold buttons, and always, the sacramental fish.