Aug. 10--If angels can dance on pin heads, why can't monks arm wrestle? If monkeys can play "See/Hear/Speak No Evil," why can't monks play monkeys? And while we're warming up, who says friars can't hula hoop?

Welcome to the blessedly merry mind of Frank "Wyso" Wysochansky, a self-taught artist, funny philosopher and brother of four priests. His jolly portraits of holy men on their off-hours are displayed at Lehigh University, site of a 2006 retrospective of coal-mining pictures he made in his hometown of Blakely, Lackawanna County, once a mining metropolis.

Frugal and inventive, Wysochansky (1915-1994) created many of these portraits on paper smeared with melted black and white crayons. This sculptural drawing freed him to depict monks as marvelously mercurial souls. Their bodies are as rotund as cookie jars, their eyes as bright as searchlights, their beards as wild as root cages. They arm wrestle in a politely competitive trance, clink steins with Oktoberfest smiles, play "See/Hear/Speak No Evil" as a cheeky charade.

Wysochansky's father and grandfathers were miners. He made most of his money from mining pictures, a specialty suggested by his brothers. Not surprisingly, many of the monks here resemble miners in hassocks. Their skin seems dusted by coal, or splattered by mineral deposits. Their robes have bold, tubular strokes, or waxy seams. A ghostly metallic glint gives them a grimy dignity.

Everything is lighter in Wysochansky's pen-and-ink cartoons of friars. Silhouetted on rust-stained, parchment-coarse paper, they do the darndest tricks with relics. Challenged by a little girl, one frisky fellow hula hoops a rosary cross around his waist.

"See No Evil," by Frank "Wyso" Wysochansky, through Feb. 27, Lehigh University, Girdler Student Gallery, University Center, 29 Library Drive, Bethlehem. Hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. 610-758-3615, http://www.luag.org .

CRAZY CRAYOLA SCULPTURES: Herb Williams does crazy things with crayons, too. The Nashville resident sculpts cut-up, epoxied Crayolas as clever homages to influential artists. Some of his works are owned by powerful organizations (The Wall Street Journal) and powerful people (Rudy Guiliani, former mayor of New York City); some are exhibited at Monsoon in Bethlehem, an easy drive from the Forks Township source of his colorful raw materials.

Williams honors Wayne Thiebaud, best known for sleek paintings of desserts, with a cupcake iced with waxy pink studs and sprinkled with waxy white spikes. It could be a prop for a banquet for professional wrestlers. He morphs Jasper Johns' crusty, target-like paintings of the Stars & Stripes into a flexing, frosted flag. Using the sharp ends of white crayons, Williams turns stars into miniature guns guarding the fortress of democracy.

Some works have no references to favorite creators. "Artist Wheel of Fortune" is a carnival game of misfortunes ("Degenerate," "Sell-Out") with crayons bunched like bamboo. Some works have no crayons. One wall piece consists of painted-fish Crayola boxes bunched like tiles.

Sometimes Williams' medium mars his message. His wall flowers are as meek and mechanical as Lego wallflowers. A tribute to Magritte, who often painted surreal men in bowlers, misfires because the bowler is more like a mutant bonnet. And a stiff, crunched banana isn't nearly as underground as the one Andy Warhol gave the Velvet Underground.

"Standing on the Shoulders of Giants," crayon sculptures by Herb Williams, through Sept. 3, Monsoon, 11 E. 3rd St., Bethlehem. Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun. 610-866-6600, http://www.monsoongalleries.com .

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NWS,

Story Source: The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania