A sense of place infused with a sense of mystery inspires two exhibitions on view at the Vancouver Art Gallery (www.vanartgallery.bc.ca). Until Jan. 23, 2000, Visions of Paradise: Varley in British Columbia presents for the first time in more than 40 years the major works created by Group of Seven founding member Frederick Horsman Varley during his Vancouver years (1926 to 1936). The portraits and landscapes from this period reflect not only the nationalist and anti-classicist motivations of the Group of Seven but Varley's growing interest in theosophy, Eastern mysticism and the psychological interpretation of colour. Continuing until Feb. 13, 2000, The Rhetoric of Utopia: John Vanderpant and his Contemporaries explores another anti-establishment strain in the development of Canadian art. Like many of his contemporaries on the West Coast, painter and photographer John Vanderpant rejected the colonial aesthetics that dominated the art scene in the 1920s and 30s in favour of a modernist aesthetic. His strikingly optimistic work asserted the beauty of both natural and architectural forms and thus the potential for the harmonious coexistence of nature and technology. FIGURES 1 and 2