Excerpt from Gerrit Henry review of "The Secret History" exhibition by John Wells at Barbara Braathen Gallery, in Art in America, October 1994: "Seldom has work so unapologetically visionary been seen in New York.... in Wells's semi-comic, semi-cosmic oeuvre the heart of a poet is in evidence. He explores 'The Secret History'...of a locale blended from Greco-Roman, Minoan, Persian and other ancient cultures, a stunning and unique concatenation of the antique with the modem, the precious with the grave, imagination with inspiration, wit and eccentricity - and all realized in 45 9-inch-square variations. "In 'Knew the Plans of the Heavenly Lovers,' a big, blue fleur-de-lys comes to life on the edge of a mountain, with two five-pointed stars dancing merrily up the peak and a Panlike creature piping his reed to the left. 'Haunted Precinct' is a bizarre but affectionate send-up of the 20th-century obsession with the picture plane. Below yellow mountains and a silver crescent moon is a giant, mustardly lingam surrounded by jigsaw-puzzle-piece areas of purple, yellow, clay red and more, with two of Wells's trademark funny-faces smashed flat into the design to highlight their it's-only-illusion nature."