When one first steps into the cavernous spaces of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), the first thing which strikes the sight are four or five interesting pieces of work, which in their distorted figurative appearance seem to owe a lot to modern Spanish masters of the 20th century. It is however, when the viewer steps into the inner gallery of MOCA and later into the left passage gallery, that the full force of Russian artist Ekatherina Savtchenko smashes into our inner mind with the fiery force of a primeval firestorm.

And since "Fire" is the theme of Savtchenko's show, this is a good thing. This soft-spoken artist, who now lives in Dusseldorf, Germany will go to extreme pains to help us decipher her enthusiastic attitude toward the theme of her work.

She starts with a large photograph of herself in various poses, which are all part of a conceptual dnace piece she does in conjunction with the openings. Savtchenko is a slim, blonde woman with long tresses, and her figure, distorted by the camera, and further distorted by her energetic application of oil paint, is well suited to the range of emotions, feelings and temperatures which she spans with her work.

She is seen in a cool fire, almost being birthed by an ancestral, cool fire. With almost iconic persistance, the dark figure of the painter is surrounded by blue flames, which slowly turn warmer as we walk through the suite of paintings, and eventually consume her, a Slavic- Viking goddess being sacrificed in a sensual bath of brilliantly white flames. And it is in the sensuality of the heat, the caress of the flame, and the pale titillation of the background figure, where this work most elloquently succeeds.

Savtchenko, who studied art at the Fine Arts Academy of St. Petersburg in her native Russia and later at the Fine Arts Academy in Dusseldorf, freely admits that she uses fire as the theme of these later works because of its potent symbology. "Fire can be used in so many ways," she states, "when people are afraid of something new, the use fire, as the fascists did with books." She continues, "but fire also is like a trail, a baptism, and a cleansing agent."

Since she paints using her fingers, the "Fire" paintings are full of energy and sensuality. Just like our ancestral cavemen brethern, who left thousands of finger marks and tracks in the moist walls of the caves of Spain and France, there's soemething primeval, almost child-like in painting with our fingers.

In the hands of this talented artist, that feeling is elevated to a furious zenith and delivers with the raw emotional power of a piece of art which has brilliantly delivered its message.

This exhibition will run until Nov. 15, 1998.

The author is a regional art critic for several art magazines and local newspapers.