PRESS RELEASE
Michael Abrams, Old and Lost Rivers
Oct 15 – Nov 14, 2009
Press Release
Michael Abrams: Old and Lost Rivers
October 15-November 14, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 15, 2009
Sears-Peyton Gallery is pleased to present “Old and Lost Rivers”, an exhibition of recent paintings by New York artist Michael Abrams. The show will include paintings on canvas and panel, made with many layers of translucent oil glazes in the luminous atmospheric style that Abrams is known for. This is Abrams’s fourth one-person show with the Gallery.
Michael Abrams grew up in Rensselaer County, in a home perched above the majestic greenery of the Hudson River Valley. The image of sprawling fertile land has remained imprinted in Abrams’s mind during the decades that he has spent painting in the brick –and-cement landscape of Manhattan. The river basin has also been a recurring theme
in Abrams’s work. It is loaded with meaning, from historically, being the cradle of civilization to metaphorically, for life’s journey.
Abrams is inspired by the link between theology and nature that captured the American landscape painters of the nineteenth century. His minimally bare landscapes seem to be at once recognizable destinations and intangible color fields. In this way, Abrams bridges the romanticism of the Hudson River School with the contemporary dialogue of abstraction.
About Sears-Peyton Gallery
Founded in 1999 by Macie Sears and Gaines Peyton, Sears-Peyton Gallery is located in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and represents the work of contemporary American artists. While the gallery’s artists work in a wide variety of media and subject matters, the common thread that unites this diverse stable of talent is a grounding in historic styles and subjects, rendered contemporary and seductive through modern processes, interpretation, mood and technique. The result is work that feels simultaneously timeless and timely. With emphasis on process-driven exploration, improvisation, and rigorous craft, Sears Peyton’s artists are committed to producing earnest and contemplative works of art.
The gallery is committed to the long term development of their artists; placing works in public and private collections as well as acting as an accessible public space in which works are exhibited and become part of the cultural dialogue.