During a decade of art collecting, I have occasionally come upon an elusive art-maker whose small body of work suggests they could have achieved more than has survived the passing of time. The creater of this week's intriguing etching of the Return of the Prodigal Son fits this categorgy. Karnig Nalbandian has been described as an anarchist, who detested art-world politics, threw wild parties for jazz lovers, spent summers with lobster fishermen, and lived much of his life in poverty, caring for an ailing mother. His featured image of the Prodigal Son harkens back to Rembrandt's famous painting of the parable, but he has deliberately distorted the scene for dramatic and comic effect. The exaggeratedly extended limbs of the wayward son seem to propel him into his father's embrace, while a gallery of puzzled grotesques looks on in an over-the-top "Arabian Nights" setting. Two other religious works in the collection raise similar questions about the meaning of sacred story for which Nalbandian has left no hint of an answer. (John Kohan)