Old civilizations such as Rome, Greece, Persia, India, China and Japan have all left a rich, energizing legacy of erotic art which even today stands out in our culture. Established yearly erotic art shows in cities such as San Francisco and Seattle (where one was started back in 1977 at the University of Washington School of Art by yours truly) are sometimes some of the most innovative and eye opening shows of those cities.

The current DC Erotic Art Show at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Georgetown is just as visually entertaining and artistically gifted as any of those I've seen in California, and clearly to the most casual observer the most visually different art exhibition on display this month in our area.

No matter if it was painted in 3,000 B.C. or last month, a piece of erotic art can offend, entertain, amuse, delight or attract attention, but it will nearly always cause a reaction, which immediately puts it at an advantage to almost every other genre of art. Such is the case in MOCA's exhibition and the show delivers another hit in the scorecard of the different and innovative; MOCA continues to be the place where one can always count to find a show which stands apart from the rest.

The pieces on exhibition range from highly erotic creations such as the superb black and white photographs by Ward Boult to some terrific small paintings of male genitalia by Manon Cleary, whose highly accomplished painting skills continue to amaze me everytime I see this artist's work.

The photographs by Boult are certainly the most erotic pieces in the show, not only because they tap our voyeuristic desires by showing us attractive people in sensual poses and settings, but also because they are well executed from a photographic point of view; they are well composed and crisply printed, showing good photographic skills and superior darkroom abilities.

Clearly, viewers familiar with Robert Mapplethorpe's pornographic work will say that Boult's photographs owe a lot to Mapplethorpe's, but I think they are better - at least Boult does his own photography and darkroom work. Mapplethorpe was a superb marketer of his own work, but the revelation that he didn't take or process most of the photographs attributed to him, diminishes him and his work.

Lastly, Steven Lewis' pieces were also highly interesting, although not necessarily erotic (unless dirty politics is erotic to some), such as his "Contract with America," which failed at being erotic but succeeded at being insulting to Republicans. In summary, I think Ward Boult's photographs and Manon Cleary's paintings steal this highly entertaining show, but overall the exhibition is a terrific success which I truly enjoyed viewing and easily one which will cause interest and raise an eyebrow or two.

Just a few feet from MOCA, the eklektikos Gallery currently has on display the Washington debut of Georgia artist Stan Mullins, where he is the executive director of the Athens Center for International Arts. The eklektikos Galleries, now in its second year, continues to deliver consistently as an avenue for local, national and international talent to be showcased and has rapidly become one of my favorite galleries in DC. In July they will be staging the American debut of London photographer Karen Williams.

Stan Mullins past work is generally highlighted by bold use of colors and loose brushwork, although this exhibition is dominated by a large number of smaller somber- toned pieces done in a quicker, almost preparatory style. A viewer at the show likened them to those wonderful red ochre cartoon sketches by Leonardo or Raphael done in preparations for major paintings. I particularly liked the piece titled Nymphs, which is one of the more colorful entries in the show. This artist (who has recently illustrated a children's book), reminds me in a loose, modern way of some of those wonderful N.C. Wyeth paintings done for Treasure Island and other adventure stories, and like Wyeth, Mullins is superbly skilled in delivering that "look" which captures the fantasy inner meaning of some stories, legends or fables. This is a serious artist with a tremendous future ahead of him, and I hope that we get to see more of him in the future.

Next to eklektikos is the Alla Rogers Gallery, which as usual had some powerful work on display with a former Soviet connection. On display was the work of Canadian born Theresa Markiw, a graduate of Concordia University in Montreal. Her exhibition consists of several superlative watercolors still lifes. My favorite was the piece titled "Hot Peppers." This artist has a strong control of this difficult media and a superlative exhibition pedigree.

Alla Rogers also had an exhibition of well know artist Gavriil Malysh, whose watercolors and pastels show a strong influence by Cezanne. This remarkable artist, now in his 90's has a highly refined technique, where water becomes an integral part of his works, to the point that the watercolor pieces almost have a touch of Oriental brush painting in them, but transplanted to his own traditions of Russian folk art. Malysh's paintings tantalize the viewer with that attarction that only the works of true masters can deliver.

I was truly impressed by the range of colors and control of the media. All these galleries are within steps of each other and certainly worth the visit.