9 *** Wildlife art, like sushi and modern poetry, is very much a matter of personal taste.

While many people, for instance, can appreciate the raw beauty of an animal subject and the skill that's required in painting it, do they respond in the same way, emotionally and intellectually, that they might when viewing a Cezanne or Matisse? The real question is: does the wildlife artist -- even to the extent of a John James Audubon -- stir the imagination and the senses to the same degree that a muralist or a sculptor can? In the case of Brett Alexander Fountain, a young Bermudian whose 51-piece show closes this week at the Bermuda Society of Art's City Hall gallery, the answer is yes -- and no.

Mr. Fountain, who graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1993, shows a tremendous command of his metier in the current exhibition, especially for someone in the early stages of his career.

Having said that, though, there is perhaps too much of his career represented in the show, which includes a debatably unwise number of Mr. Fountain's earlier and decidedly less successful works.

In these and other paintings, the artist, whose pictures have been featured on the pages of numerous magazines and promotional posters, can often seem stilted in larger form (as in, for instance, his acrylics and watercolours on paper) and sometimes even garish (his "Marlin Collage'' is a notable example, as is the exuberantly shaded "Rock Beauty'').

On the other hand, some of these explosions of colour and style do work -- namely "Tusk Fish,'' which has a strikingly psychedelic beauty to it, and "Hooked Up,'' a four-panel abstract that is playful and fun and happy, much like the school of dolphins it inevitably brings to mind.

On the whole, however, Mr. Fountain is at his strongest when he places his subjects in their natural surroundings, which he is very adept -- often brilliantly so -- at rendering.

In "Orca,'' for example, Mr. Fountain creates a coolly beautiful study of a killer whale at sea, its blowhole shooting up a gorgeous plume of spray, while "Out of the Den,'' a portrait of two grizzly bears as they trudge through a snowy wood, is sombrely stunning, the wintry setting as expertly and alluringly rendered as the beasts themselves.

Perhaps the most lovely of the artist's creations, however, is "Coming Moon,'' an eerily affecting portrait of a wolf pack in the throes of its collective nighttime howling. This work -- Mr. Fountain's most successful combination of detail and emotion -- is clearly the artist's crowning achievement to date, a work that has the power to (like a first-rate boys' adventure tale) transport the viewer to a frosty forest at night and run with the pack as it were.

It is in these instances -- somewhat rare but nonetheless existent -- that the otherwise mannered Mr. Fountain sheds the label of wildlife artist and becomes simply and impressively an artist.

In that sense, it was perhaps a good thing that many of this young talent's earlier works were included in the show, as they indicate the extent to which Mr. Fountain has progressed in a few short years (both artistically and technically) and how far he may yet go.

Danny Sinopoli "GREEN TURTLE'' (OIL ON CANVAS) -- Mr. Fountain is at his strongest when he places his subjects in their natural surroundings.

ART REVIEW