GRACE GLUECK, THE NEW YORK TIMES , 12-16-1983

Christopher Sproat (Bette Stoller Gallery, 13 White Street): A gift for elegant stylization is shown by Christopher Sproat in sculptures, mostly of black-painted wood and neon tubing, which take off from animal and insect motifs. From pieces of neon tubing and a simple forked structure of wood, he evokes the head of a steer; a pointed ellipsoid of wood accented by a straight neon tube and underpinned by a jagged configuration of slats makes a determined-looking insect. An exceptionally handsome piece is ”Black Bird,” a long, horizontal line of neon tubing framed in black wood and accented by winglike forms placed along it in rhythmic alternations of angle. Other works include a chair made of triangles, like an Origami cutout; an ingenious chandelier of two truss-like forms in a cross, and several large drawings, in which robot figures are built of white girder-like elements on black paper. But Mr. Sproat is more interesting in 3-D. (Through Dec. 30.)