By Rebecca Unger
The Roadside Attraction Gallery in Twentynine Palms is host-
ing a Mr/Mrs, show through Sept. 13. Art couples Rik
Livingston and Cat Lynch of Joshua Tree, and Rick and
Rebecca Unger of Johnson Valley, have different approaches to cre-
ativity that provide some startling images.

Gallery owner Electra Westmann had originally planned to use
thp well-lit spacious room next to her and husband Richard's insur-
ance office as a healing meditation room. "I felt it needed some heal-
ing art work," recalls Westmann, "but local artists brought so much
work that I made it into a gallery." This was in January of 2001, the
same year that well-known moralist Chuck Caplinger started the
Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council.

This past spring, Westmann attended the Retro UFO Convention.
She got an other-worldly psychic reading from Reverend Bob Short of
the Blue Rose Ministry in Arizona. "I wanted to be supportive of thi
history of the Integratron, and Reverend Short was best friends with
Integratron founder George Van Tassel."

Reverend Short channeled an extraterrestrial entity, and
Westmann says she was given an intriguing prediction. "I was told
that business at the gallery would start picking up. A new artist,
\\ hose work is very precise, would be coming in during August, and
would bring new attention to the gallery." Westmann said she didn't
know who the entity was referring to until she saw Rick Unger's
detailed acrylic paintings. Unger calls his style "improbable realism,"
referring to the photographic quality of his surrealistic images.

The Roadside Attraction will be having a "closing" reception for the
show on Sunday, August 31, from 4pm to 7pm. "Art, food, fun, friends,
and robots!" Robots? You'll just have to come and see.

The gallery is located at 69197 Highway 62 at Indian Cove. For
more information, call (760)362-4100.