Amid the wonderful sprawl of Bloomingdale's, the upcoming Topshop, the bordello-themed Madame X, and a Zagat's Guide of triple-dollar-sign restaurants, art galleries stick out incongruously in Soho. They almost seem shoehorned into the neighborhood, breathing in the air of an intellectual idyll without the substance of their Chelsea or Uptown ilk. Take the case of "This Is Not A Drawing," the latest group show at Spencer Brownstone Gallery.

Hanging from the gallery's vast, Spartan walls are works by Jeff Gabel, David X. Levine, and Monika Zarzeczna -- all using famous surrealist René Magritte's "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" as a springboard to explore and defy the existential limitations of drawing. But under this motif, they all appear to be missing something. For example, Gabel's meticulous hand-drawn re-creation of the Blogger template out of colored pencils and manuscript paper strives to create a series that is neither blog nor drawing. Levine's own collection aspires towards a sculpture-like presence, while Zarzeczna balances of signs and symbols; but none of these pieces achieve the same irony as Magritte and with his pipe.

This exhibition is filled with cold and precise works that, while intelligent and educated, fail to capture the essence of Magritte's original, coming off more as exercises in art theory than personal expression. Although, when considered outside the parameters defining (restricting, perhaps?) this very group show, each work does possess a germ of something inspirational.