Artist Statement and Exhibitions
Artist Statement
I have divided my time between the Lower East Side in New York City and a rural community in upstate New York for the last twenty-five years. The influence of organic references and lyrical motifs has come from contemplative moments in the countryside.
Asian philosophy has long been an inspiration and in particular, the concept of Wabi-Sabi, an aesthetic that finds beauty in imperfection and transience. I start with a form, but the form is no more or less important than the feeling that surrounds it and the deeper, more enduring intangible, that cradles that feeling. The imagery isn't pre-determined; rather it is an experience of emotional timbre and a spiritual dive.
The source of a piece is a convergence of linked relationships. It is the still and demanding afternoon light on the lower garden and the awkward quiet movement of holding on and letting go that love requires. The beginnings of a painting are an amalgam of memories, a shaft of light, a shadow, a tender remembrance of the day. I gather and return to these moments of emotional impact.
Surfaces relay a physical density and luminosity while remaining mobile and fluid. I often use mylar or distressed canvas as a painting surface and apply oil paints with sumi brushes and palette knives to achieve a range of marks and a depth of resonance. Once something is laid down, a stratum of building begins through adjusting a color tone or an edge, again and again. Sometimes the traces remain as a pentimento.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2025 National Association of Women Artists, Summer Small Works, 2025
https://thenawa.org/
2024 Kresgi Gallery Exhibition, Marywood University, Scranton, PA
Small Works, 2024, The Gallery, Spencertown Academy,
Spencertown, NY
Re Institute Pop Up Show, Millerton, NY
2022 Main Street Gallery, Fleischmanns, NY
In the Same World, (2 person exhibition)
Stephentown Art Guild Presents, Town Hall, Stephentown, NY
Reflections on Recent Times, (2 person exhibition)
Thompson Giroux Gallery,Chatham,NY
Part of the Story
2021 The Painting Center, NY
One in a Year, online exhibition
2019 Thompson Giroux Gallery,Chatham,NY En Masse VI 2019
2018 Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
En Masse V 2018
The Clemente, NYC
Open Door Invitation Exhibition
2017 Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
En Masse IV 2017
Viridian Artists, NYC
Benefit for Art in a Box, Artists for Aids Orphans and Children at Risk
2016 Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
En Masse III 2016
2015 440 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
11th Annual Small Works Show, curated by Amy Williams
The Painting Center
2015 Benefit Exhibition
2014 The Painting Center, NYC
21 and Counting
Skylight Gallery, NYC
2014 Benefit Exhibition
2013 Masters Pelavin, NYC
Benefit for Art in a Box, Artists for Aids Orphans and Children at Risk
2012 Masters Pelavin, NYC
Paralax AF, NYC
2011 Cheryl Pelavin Fine Arts, NYC
Benefit for Art in a Box, Artists for Aids Orphans and Children at Risk
2010 Shala Studio, New York, New York, In Memory
2009 Pearson Art Gallery, White Plains, New York, AIB Exhibition
JLA Tribeca, New York, New York, Streetscapes, Landscapes, Still Lives
Cheryl Pelavin Fine Arts, New York, New York, Friends
2008 Lincoln Hospital Exhibition Space, Bronx, NY, IMPARTING
Train Station Gallery, West Stockbridge, MA, Group Show
Bowman Bloom, New York, New York
2007 Cheryl Pelavin Gallery, NYC
Benefit for Art in a Box, Artists for Aids Orphans and Children at Risk
Train Station Gallery, West Stockbridge, MA, Group Show
2005 Train Station Gallery, West Stockbridge, MA, Group Show
2004 New York Mercantile Exchange, NYC, On Your Marks
Ansonia Pharmacy, NYC, Window Show
The Painting Center, NYC, Recent Paintings
2003 Train Station Gallery, West Stockbridge, MA, Group Show
2002 Gallery One Twenty Eight, NYC, Embodying Light
2002 Train Station Gallery, West Stockbridge, MA, Group Show
2001 New Century Gallery, NYC, Artist at Work
2000 Ute Stebich Gallery, Lenox, MA, Group Show
Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY, Group Show
1999 The Gallery at 1 East 53, NYC, Artists Self-portraits
1998 The Gallery at 1 East 53, NYC, Smallworks,
curated by Lydia Yee, The Bronx Museum of Art
1998 College Misericordia, Dallas, PA, The Persistence of Place
1997 Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, Brooklyn, NY,
Landscape, Vision, and Spirit
The Gallery at 1 East 53, NYC, Small Works curated by Patterson Sims
1997 The Painting Center, NYC,
Landscape A survey of contemporary painting using landscape imagery
1996 Public Securities Association, NYC, Celebrating Individual Sensibility
National Arts Club, NYC, Paintings
Henry Street Settlement Abrons Art Center, NYC
Fresh A.I.R. At 20
1995 The Painting Center, NYC, Recent Prints
Art Initiatives, NYC, The Field of Vision
Synchronicity Space, NYC, Sixth Annual Juried Painting Exhibition
1994 Art Initiatives, NYC, Mass Exposure
The Painting Center, NYC, Painters Painting
1993 Language Enterprise, NYC,
Solo Exhibition, Paintings and Works on Paper
1992 Artists Space, NYC, Artists from the Studio in a School
1991 Artist Space, NYC, Small Works
1990 Bowery Gallery, NYC, Small Works Invitational
Sotheby’s, NYC, The Friends of the Public Schools Exhibition
1989 Henry Street Settlement Abrons Art Center, NYC, Confluences
1987 22 Wooster Gallery, NYC, Powerful Little Stuff
On Line Gallery
Publications and Catalogues
1996 Celebrating Individual Sensibility by Martica Sawin
Paintings by Martica Sawin
1995 The Fleeting Eternal by Stephen Sartarelli
Residencies
1992-93 Cummington Community of the Arts, Cummington, MA,
1987-89 Henry Street Settlement Abrons Art Center, NYC
Selected Private/ Public Collections
Mr. Peter S. Gould, NYC
Koloman Handler Inc., Congers, NY
Education and Biography
1971-73 University of South Florida, Tampa, FLA
1975 Florida State University, Tallahassee, FLA, B.F.A.
1982 City College, San Francisco, CA
1953 Born in Nashville, TN
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