Fashion designer Isaac Mizhrahi, known for wide-ranging interests that include fine cuisine, made his curatorial debut this summer with a group show at Julie Saul Gallery. His selections are highly personal and idiosyncratic - and mouth-watering, like food for the eye. He has brought together work by well known and rarely seen artists, chosen for their sophisticated use of color, and a sensual, joyful quality.

The show is introduced by a mural-size geometric abstract by Julia Sherman whose colorful dots and bars, askew on the oblong canvas, seem to dance off the wall. Sherman, a relation of the designer, was actively painting in the 1960s and 70s.

Left to right: Marfa, Texas by Maureen Gallace; Untitled by Julia Sherman; Hydrangea by Jane Freilicher. All copyright the artists, courtesy Julie Saul Gallery.

In the next gallery is a confection by Wayne Thibault, who created it specifically for this exhibition. In typical Thibault fashion, three cupcakes topped with mountainous globs of frosting loom large, like monuments, on a diminutive canvas. Nearby, a series of small gouache paintings by Maira Kalman portray the enjoyment of food in the morning hours. From breakfast in bed, in a room fit for a very grand vizier, to the wainscoted corner of a neighborhood coffee shop, Kalman's penchant for wit and whimsy is tempered by what seems like an autobiographical attachment to these lovely scenes.

Jane Freilicher, an acclaimed painter who regularly exhibits at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, is represented here by two gorgeous still lifes. In one, a legion of small containers, one of which holds flowers, march Morandi-like across a table whose backdrop is a summer seascape. Across the room, two small landscapes by Maureen Gallace, which share the same buttery paint quality as Thibaut's cupcakes, offer a sublime sense of summertime - at the seashore and on a grassy hill.

The show is rounded out by geometrical paintings of trees by Adrianne Lobel, well known as a set designer; a bold and fanciful aerial landscape by Lisa Sanditz; and two ethereal collage abstractions by Donna Chung.

Summer Pictures continues through September 12 at Julie Saul Gallery. 535 West 22nd Street New York, NY 10011. 212.627.2410. Summer hours: Tuesday - Friday 10:00 am-6:00 pm.