The Artists: In Their Own Words
Ann Cooper: "The paintings presented here incorporate
patterns from different cultures juxtaposed with landscape or traditional
scenic views. Still life painting usually refers to objects on a
flat surface, but using different subject matter, these are transformed
into an intersection of landscape and ornament in a literal and
symbolic sense."
[More about Ann Cooper]
Joseph D’Esposito: "In this present exhibit at
First Street Gallery, my paintings have moved away from my former
cityscapes toward a landscape of the self and its sources. A native
of Brooklyn, I studied at the Art Students League and the National
Academy of Design. My painterly realism, based on observation, memory
and imagination has its roots in the streets of Brooklyn and amongst
the quotidian objects of my life. In this particular exhibit, an
ascendant role is assigned to the self in search both of its past
and cultural origins."
[More about Joseph
D'Esposito]
Suzi Evalenko: "The two works presented here celebrate
my mother, who died a year ago. The oil presents the young ‘Dramatic
Beauty’ who commanded the space around her, even in her most
contemplative moments, making every room a backdrop to an intense
close-up. The drawing, done a few hours before her death, completes
the metaphor of a life lived passionately, with few compromises
and no apologies. She died as she lived, ‘On Her Own Terms’.
Knowing she would have this final victory, she slept well for the
first time in years".
[More about Suzi Evalenko]
Wendy Gittler: "For more than twenty-five years, I
have been going to an ecologically fragile key that allowed me to
witness the continual upheavals of sand and sea. The transient inhabitants
and shifting spatial perspectives have made me re-conceive my work
in light of spatial discontinuity and memory."
[More about Wendy Gittler]
Penny Kronengold: "In these works, competitive swimmers
await the moment of entry into the water or are caught in mid-swim
during practice. The images are developed from drawings done at
the pool where I train; others are recalled from a meet. The link
between the discipline of athletic training and the rigorous search
for rightness in a drawing inspire an exploration of the theme,
as do the metaphors of water, pace clocks and divers."
[More about Penny Kronengold]
Mari Lyons: "Autumn Still-life with Pumpkin and Teapot"
was painted in my recently completed studio in Woodstock, New York.
It is both a study of space and light and a studio interior with
gueridon, sculpture stand, and myself as a small dim reflection
in the arch-shaped Tibetan mirror. The organization of the painting
is abstract: it is not a reproduction of nature but an attempt to
make of the motionless objects something both animated and still."
[More about Mari Lyons]