Whatever you may think about flying saucers, they seem quite real in the paintings of Ken Grimes. White lines against a black background form words or cute extraterrestrials. In the large What Doesn’t the Gov’t. Want Us to Know . . . , white block letters at the top cite a “UFO survey presented to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics in July 1960.” Below are 63 little flying saucers, drawn, Grimes says, from a sheet the committee published summarizing various photos of UFOs. They look a bit like single-celled organisms, or a set of symbols or glyphs. In Grimes’s hands they seem alive, a fleet descending out of the night sky.

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Paintings by Ken Grimes can be seen at a booth for New York’s Ricco/Maresca Gallery at Art 1995 Chicago, the annual international art fair at Navy Pier, Grand Avenue at the lake. Show hours are noon to 8 Friday through Monday, May 12 to 15, and noon to 6 Tuesday, May 16; admission is $10, $7 for students and seniors (children under ten are free). Call 587-3300 for more.