Street -- Hamilton *** One of the last things Bermuda needs, most observers of the arts would agree, is another commercial art gallery, but the Regal Art Gallery, which opened recently in the Brunswick Building on Reid Street, is a gallery with a difference.

For one thing, the Regal is operated by and devoted primarily to the work of a single man, Mr. Robert D. Bassett, a local artist who has shown in such diverse venues as the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles and the Agora Gallery in New York's beyond-trendy Soho district.

And for another, the work is of such a distinct artistic character that it makes the gallery a welcome and unique addition to the scene and a visit there an enjoyable and worthwhile experience.

Gathered en masse, Mr. Bassett's eye-poppingly bright, African-inspired paintings do seem a little garish at first, like the images you might envision if you were on the failing end of Tom Wolfe's famous -- or infamous -- Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

But individually -- and these rich and multi-textured works can only be appreciated thusly -- they do quite often sing.

In particular, those that centre around the artist's obvious attraction to women of all roles and manifestations -- female subjects, in Mr. Bassett's ouevre , show up everywhere -- work especially well.

Simple pleasures, too, are celebrated throughout the collection, from the warmth and intimacy of two friends who share a pot of tea in "Tea for Two'' to a moment of intergenerational bonding in "Father to Son''.

Of course, some of the artist's primarily large canvasses are more successful than others, but all -- and especially the abstracts -- have an energy, a depth and a visual appeal that is undeniable.

In "Griot'', for instance, Mr. Bassett temporarily abandons his mainly African style to render an ambiguous goddess-like figure in pseudo-Indian manner, while "Timing'', a gorgeously complex work in which a dancing half-figure proclaims that "Timing is almost as precious as time itself'', engages on a variety of levels.

Outweighing the thematic heaviness of these works are such cleverly humorous paintings as "Think I'm Something'', a rich and very involving portrait of an exaggeratedly dreadlocked man who wears his obvious pride on his sleeve.

Most of all, though, it is the quiet and more contemplative paintings that show Mr. Bassett, whose work has been collected by everyone from magazine editor Susan L. Taylor to former Bahamian Prime Minister Sir Lyndon Pindling, at his best.

And if a simple pleasure is what the artist is most adept at catching, so too is it an apt way of describing a visit to the Regal Gallery.

In addition to Mr. Bassett's work, the Regal Art Gallery also serves as a showcase for the work of various international and local artists, including the 33-year-old Dennis Joaquin, who is currently represented in a rear gallery by the fine and starkly coloured "The Guardians''.

DANNY SINOPOLI ROBERT D. BASSETT'S "A GOOD BOOK'' -- Eye-poppingly bright works that celebrate the simple pleasures.