etchings by joseph owczarek

OCTOBER 16 - DECEMBER 31, 2020

For more information, call 914.806.3573

JOSEPH OWCZAREK

Artist Joseph P. Owczarek was born and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He has lived for many years in New York City, practicing as an architect and interior designer. During this time, he attended drawing studios at the Illustrators Society, Spring Street Studio, and the Salmagundi Club. In 2017, Joseph was recognized as one of five “showcase artists” by the Print Club of New York.

Joseph’s etchings are inspired by his travel sketches and photographs, old book illustrations and other works of art – in particular, line etchings and drawings by Picasso, Morandi, Klimt, Bellows, Matisse, Tiepollo, Cullen, Bonnard, Degas, and Hockney.

The works on exhibit at Woodstock Art Exchange feature landscapes, cityscapes and still lifes. Davis G. Christie, of the New York Public Library Wallace Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, has described Joseph’s work as building “on the tension between the linear and the painterly, betweek the natural and built environments.”

These works will be on display through December 31, 2020.

Woodstock Art Exchange is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays 11 – 6, and by appointment (call 646.256.9688).

reclaimed canvas

ruby silvious reimagines the familiar

october 4 - december 2, 2019

Artist Reception and Book Signing: Saturday, October 12, 3-6 pm

With live music duo “The Groove” | Jazz, funk, rhythm and blues
Tommy Porto on sax and flute and Richie Sullivan on keyboard and vocals

For more information, call 914.806.3573

RUBY SILVIOUS

Ruby Silvious is internationally recognized for her miniature paintings and collages on the used tea bag. On January 3, 2015, she started a project called 363 Days of Tea, a visual daily record of her impression of the moment, using the emptied-out tea bag as her canvas, and altering it to create a new work of art every day for 363 days. She draws, paints, prints and collages moody, evocative and sometimes whimsical art on used teabag paper. She is the author of 363 Days of Tea: A Visual Journal on Used Teabags (Mascot Books, 2016), and the newly-released Reclaimed Canvas: Reimagining the Familiar (Mascot Books, 2019). In her new book Ruby wants viewers to keep an open mind and think beyond the boundaries of what they may consider traditional art. This exhibition will include her work on used tea bags, cracked egg shells, pistachio shells, and shoes made with paper scraps.

Her paintings on tea bags, some inspired by her travels around the world, have been featured in numerous publications including CNN Travel, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Good Morning America/ABC News, Vogue Italia, and the internationally syndicated Ripley’s Believe it or Not. Silvious was educated in the U.S. and Asia; she currently lives and works in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her art is exhibited internationally, and is featured in public and private collections.

www.rubysilvious.com

PEACE, LOVE AND A BIG SPLASH OF COLOR!

PAINTINGS BY JUSTIN LOVE

AUGUST 3 - SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

Artist Reception: Saturday, August 3, 5-8 pm

For more information, call 914.806.3573

LARGER THAN LIFE

portraits by bennetT harris horowitz

june 7 - july 29, 2019

Artist Reception: Saturday, June 29, 5-7 pm

For more information, call 914.806.3573

BENNETT HARRIS HOROWITZ

Bennett has been making pictures since his childhood in Queens, NY. After enjoying art lessons in various private studios, he enrolled at Pratt Institute in 1973 at age 17. There he earned his BFA, forging an artistic identity under the dual influence of painting professors Franklin Faust and Rudolf Baranik. Faust’s intensely colored fauvist landscapes inspired Bennett’s own vivid, ecstatic plein-air watercolors. At the same time, the austerely hued Baranik encouraged Bennett’s sober, narrative-inclined portrait work. The young artist recognized that people he encountered in his daily life were a rich source of subject matter for personal, and often confrontational life-size portraits. He enlisted their participation as models, continuing to do so for years to come; friends, family and casual acquaintances were all valued. He soon abandoned the tradition of painting models from direct observation, eventually opting to photograph his sub- jects and use his own prints for visual reference.

Minimalism, earthworks, conceptualism and other non-objective aesthetic movements dominated the NYC gallery and museum scene during the 1970s, when Bennett was in art school. While some contemporary figuration was grudgingly being shown, representational painting was generally considered a relic, receiving scant official attention. Bennett looked towards Alice Neel, Leon Golub, David Hockney, Alex Katz, Vermeer, Rembrandt and Degas for inspiration. Later important influences included Edvard Munch, Max Beckmann, and Mark Rothko.

Bennett took his MFA in 1981 at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts.) He worked closely with outsider artist Franklin Williams, as well as Bay Area painting stalwarts Sam Tchakalian, Jay deFeo, and Robert Bechtle. While continuing plein-air landscape painting amidst the mild California climate, studio portraiture nevertheless called to the artist. Bennett returned to New York in 1981. He earned a living working variously as a book illustrator, magazine graphic designer, and teaching at Manhattan’s High School of Art and Design —continuing to paint portraits and landscapes throughout. Bennett retired from teaching in 2015 and moved to Woodstock, NY in 2016.

Artist Statement

Photography has been a passion of mine for a long time. I enjoy the entire process–shooting, editing, then making the print. As I walk through my day, I can find beauty in the most unexpected places, noticing what remains mostly unobserved by others. I seek the other angle, the microscopic village, the unseen drama that plays out once the image is struck and that moment is frozen in time. Through my lens, the ordinary can become extraordinary. I try to capture a feeling, tell a story – and there is immense satisfaction in that. For me, the work is a celebration of light, form and – most importantly – color. I particularly enjoy the response my work elicits, especially when the images are abstract; they remain open to each viewer’s interpretation and emotion. It’s always a pleasant surprise to witness the various ways in which people experience the same photograph.

ON THE WAY TO WOODSTOCK

ABSTRACT PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES ON ALUMINUM BY AMY HOCHMAN

MARCH 29 - maY 15, 2019

Artist Reception: Saturday, April 6, 3-5pm

For more information, call 914.806.3573

AMY LEE HOCHMAN

Amy Lee Hochman was born and raised in Queens, New York. An avid photographer since her teens, for the past two decades she has made her living as a professional television editor, thereby working with imagery on a near daily basis while continuing to make images through a lens as a way of expressing herself creatively.

Initially reluctant to move from film to digital photography, Amy has now fully embraced the latter, relishing an unadulterated joy in incorporating digital post-processing into her workflow, which is most often completed by having the work printed on high-quality aluminum.

Amy had her first group exhibition at the Synchronicity Space in fall of 1994 and again in different exhibitions through 1997. After a long hiatus, she has begun to show her photography again – in group shows with Soho Arthouse, NYC in 2014; NYCDPW, NYC in 2016; LACDA, Los Angeles in 2016; Arthouse. NYC, NYC and Miami in 2016; The Con Artist Collective, NYC and Miami in 2017, The Plaxall Gallery, LIC in 2017; The Factory, Long Island City, New York 2018, and The Professional Women Photographers Group, NYC in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Amy’s greatest passion is for macro and abstract color work.

Artist Statement

It is not polite to stare at others ... in which case I am perhaps a very rude person. I am compelled to stare, fascinated as I am by the look of people. What is it that makes that person standing before me identifiable, certain and distinguishable from thousands of other humans whose features basically look the same? The delicate particulars of physiognomy — set just so — alert us to a specific person’s identity, mutable mood and attitude. Facial features interact in a subtle, cooperative relationship — a play of forms and shapes which allows personal recognition. Were those brown eyes situated just a little closer together, or the smirking mouth maybe a bit wider, it would not appear to be the person we know. Or think we know.
     We recognize the body stance too: an individual’s overall bearing, maybe a familiar telling gesture, a slouch, the way a hand grasps an object— as well as the choice of clothing and manner in which garments are worn. We absorb a general gestalt of visual information conveying personal style. All these observable cues contribute to identification, in addition to particulars of height, weight, hair style and complexion. 
     “What’s the matter? Is something wrong?” we might ask of a friend whose face or posture suggest some sudden onset of dismay. What causes us to recognize this shift? What is it that signals tacit meaning? A crease of the brow, a crinkly wrinkle by the eyes, a turn of the mouth, an expression. “Please, stop looking at me so closely,” one might self-consciously respond.
     The artist’s gaze is granted special license and impunity. Paintbrush or camera in hand, the artist is permitted to stare, indeed to scrutinize the human subject with abandon at the service of discovering, evoking and communicating human expression. There will be no punishment for breaching the normal etiquette of polite society. What fun for me!
     A person depicted all alone may convey a mood, attitude, occupation, status in the world, as well as a relationship to time, space and oneself. Double the depiction to two people together and the complications expand exponentially. Who are these people in relationship to each other, what is their interpersonal dynamic, how are they interacting? What is revealed about the individuals and society at large? 
    These are some of the ideas which I am playing with in this series of intimate portraits of friends and acquaintances. The overall mood and essence of the person being portrayed is more important to me than whatever specific narrative the viewer wishes to infer. Painterly concerns take equal priority; I am engaged with paint surface, color, pattern, texture, space and light. And I hope they're a pleasure to look at.

An Exhibit of Works by Margie Greve and Rob Wade

january 11 - march 17, 2019

Artist Reception: Saturday, January 19, 2-4pm

For more information, call 914.806.3573

MARGIE GREVE

Margie Greve is a graduate of Skidmore College and studied printmaking at Art Students League of New York and the School of Visual Arts, and patternmaking at the Fashion Institute of Technology. A lifelong fascination with sewing and construction led Margie to a career as an art director, graphic artist and patternmaker. Her woodcut portraits have appeared in The New Yorker and Rolling Stone, as well as in numerous books including “The Cowgirl Way” and the Rolling Stone series “Love,” “Life” and “Rock.”

She created 20 unique digital-collage portraits for John Milward’s book “Crossroads: How the Blues Shaped Rock ‘n’ Roll (and Rock Saved the Blues),” published by Northeastern University Press in 2013. Margie divides her time between New York City and Bearsville, NY.

Artist Statement

My work is informed by printmaking and based in the alchemy of opposites, the handmade and the machine-made, the old and the new, the dark and the light – and how these combine to define each other. In exploring these opposites, I aim for a bold gesture and a synergistic rhythm, creating works that can be abstract, symbolic and mysteriously evocative.

ROB WADE

Rob Wade was born in Astoria, NY in 1953. He studied Graphic Design and Illustration at School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League in New York City, as well as at SUNY Farmingdale, and at the Woodstock School of Art, NY. Rob is local to the Woodstock area, residing in Mt. Tremper.

The “Little Creatures” series is a collection of pastel drawings of sheep, goats and pigs in their natural habitat. These images are drawn from photographic references. What I find most interesting is the variety of shapes, forms, color and expressions. At times their anatomy seemed realistic while, on the other hand, it often was quite abstract. I have always been fascinated by color and form in nature and what starts out as an observation soon becomes an exploration of space and time.

Artist Statement

My work explores the relationship between the traditional methods and techniques of art with the current awareness of a new age of creativeness. While Henry Moore’s sheep drawings were one of the inspirations in creating this current body of contemporary work, I find influences from artists as diverse as Milton Avery and Susan Rothenberg.

NORTH AMERICAN TRAVELS

OCTOBER 5-DECEMBER 2, 2018

Artist Reception: Saturday, October 6, 3-5 pm

For more information, call 914.806.3573

BENNETT HARRIS HOROWITZ

Bennett has been drawing and making pictures since his childhood in Queens, NY.  Following art lessons in various studio settings, he enrolled at Pratt Institute in 1973 at age 17. There he dedicated himself to painting, forging an artistic identity under the influence of painters Franklin Faust and Rudolf Baranik. Faust’s intensely colored fauvist landscapes inspired Bennett to explore the nearby Hudson Valley and create his own high-keyed plein-air watercolors. At the same time, he was also working on life-size portraits in acrylic and oil paints in his Brooklyn studio.

In 1981, Bennett earned his MFA at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts) The mild and often sunny California climate allowed for almost year-round outdoor landscape painting. Since returning to New York in 1981, Bennett has earned a living as a book illustrator, magazine graphic designer, and as a teacher at Manhattan’s High School of Art and Design. Bennett retired from teaching in 2015 and moved to bucolic Woodstock, NY, where he maintains his painting studio. 

Digital photography has been a great boon for Bennett’s landscape painting; he is now free to explore North America with a small daypack and camera, recording landscape images which are references for more ambitious studio paintings than previously possible. Favorite locations have included Maine, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Oregon, Banff, and most recently the Catskills. Bennett’s paintings are Expressionist interpretations of his original photos, without obligation to literal photorealist standards.

For more information, please contact Woodstock Art Exchange at 914 806 3573 or info@woodstockartexchange.com. The gallery hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 12 - 6 pm, or by appointment.

two artists, twice the fun

AUGUST 17 - SEPTEMBER 30, 2018

Artist Reception: Saturday, August 18, 3-5 pm

For more information, call 914.806.3573

DENNIS GALANTE

Born in Brooklyn to Italian royalty and raised by Sicilian gypsies, Dennis Galante demonstrates an innate and distinctive creativity in his art.  He has shaped a successful international career in Advertising, Editorial and the Abstract Arts.  Schooled in San Francisco and New York City in commercial photography, Galante is a self- taught Abstract Expressionist.  While never having been formally trained in painting, his passion for the art has manifested in a body of work utilizing diverse and “out of the box” mediums.

A residential real estate broker in New York City, Galante has established a welcoming Fine Art venue within his storefront office on West 21st Street. Real+Art Chelsea has hosted artists from all over the country with group and solo shows, showcasing talented and upcoming artists.

www.dennisgalante.com

MARGIE GREVE

Margie Greve was born on Long Island September 7, 1956. She is a graduate of Skidmore College and studied printmaking at The Art Students League and The School of Visual Arts, as well as patternmaking at The Fashion Institute of Technology. After a childhood of sewing she worked in the home sewing industry as an art director, graphic artist and patternmaker.

Margie’s woodcut portraits have appeared in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone and such books as The Cowgirl Way and Rolling Stone’s trio of books: Love, Life and Rock. She created 20 portraits for Crossroads: How the Blues Shaped Rock’n’Roll (and Rock Saved the Blues), by John Milward. To create these portraits, she scanned many fabrics and textures collected over the decades and “digitally collaged” them into the drawings.

Her current show, “Rock and Roll Tarot,” is an interpretation of the 22 Major Arcana Tarot Cards as Rock and Roll Archetypes. The work depicts the mystical journey of the Fool who gains knowledge through a series of experiences in life and music. These paintings are acrylic on board simulating the look of Tarot Cards.

Margie’s work has been exhibited in New York City and the Hudson Valley. She divides her time between Woodstock, NY and New York City. 

www.margiegreve@rcn.com

For more information, please contact Woodstock Art Exchange at 914 806 3573 or info@woodstockartexchange.com. The gallery hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 12 - 6 pm, or by appointment.