Gallery 18

Current Exhibit

GALLERY18 AT THE Y is pleased to present
A WAY OF SEEING
March 30 – June 4 2023.

CLOSING RECEPTION:
Sunday, June 4 2023
from 2:00 PM—4:00 PM.

Ricardo Arango, Jose Arvelo, Jerry Gallo, Philip Greenberg, George Gutierrez, David Handschuh, Daniel Hauben, Shelley Haven, Robert Silverman, Emily Stedman

Image: Jerry Gallo, Dream Surfing IV

GALLERY18 AT THE Y
5625 Arlington Ave
Riverdale, New York
718.548.8200
Free Parking

For more information
George M. Gutierrez
917.842.3890
georgemgutierrez@me.com
GALLERY18
Curator

THE ABRAHAM ALLEGORIES

September 9-November 8, 2022

This big and important exhibition will encompass the 9/11 anniversary,
with art and photographs, including a 9/11 Pulitzer Prize winning photograph,
Hispanic Heritage Month, with a diverse group of art and artists, and
the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah,Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and
Simchat Torah, with Holocaust OP/ED ART illustrations originally
published in The Riverdale Press.

(Editor’s note: the 9/11 Pulitzer and the Holocaust Op Ed illustrations
featured in the exhibition are by former Press photo editor, photographer,
and illustrator George M. Gutierrez).

The exhibition features artists Ricardo Arango, Jose Arvelo,
Buddy N, Henry Burgos, Ruth Gilbert, George M. Gutierrez,
Daniel Hauben, Nathalie Mercado, Jordan Moss,
and Robert Silverman.

GEORGE M. GUTIÉRREZ is a New York artist, photojournalist, and curator. This show highlights his newspaper
illustrations of the Holocaust for The Riverdale Press opinion/editorial pages, as well as 9/11 paintings and
photographs including his 9/11 Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times photograph of the first funeral of an EMT worker.
His work has also been published in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, The Riverdale Press,
and other periodicals and publications. Mr. Gutiérrez has studios in Yonkers, and Riverdale, and lives in Riverdale
with his wife, Dr. Romina Carrillo Gutiérrez. @gmg423

RICARDO ARANGO is from Medellin, Colombia and studied at the Art Students League and the Independent Study Ceramics Program at Columbia University.  He uses various media in his sculptures such as ceramics, glass, marble, and steel.  He is currently exhibiting at the Venice Biennale (Palazzo Bembo) in collaboration with Thomas Lollar, professor of ceramics at TC/Columbia University and the  Oculus Gallery WTC, NYC.  His sculpture is in private collections and has been acquired for film sets. @ricardoarangoart

JOSÉ ANTONIO ARVELO was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela where he studied architecture at Simon Bolivar University.  In 2013, he and his family moved to the United States.  He has exhibited his artwork widely in the Greater New York area.  Arvelo and his wife, Daiana, have two college age children studying in Salamanca, and New York City. @arvelodelgado

BUDDY N is a Medicaid Baby who used to play in the frame of this future Y with his friends during its long-ago construction phase. Played racquetball with Grandpa here. 69 family members were murdered in the Holocaust, thus his inherent opposition to any and all racism, genocide, and apartheid.  Collage joins disparate elements together for something new, and hopefully, positive or maybe even beautiful. Average grades. He lives in Riverdale.  @bronxcommunitycollage

HENRY BURGOS current works are the product of  assorted metals, electrical wiring, and construction material collected from home renovation projects. Burgos discovered that the upkeep of a home is a lot like the upkeep of the human body; shedding layers and requiring outside resources to keep it functioning. This, accompanied with the current climate of human interaction with growing robot tech, has inspired a post apocalyptic series of cyborg miniature human skull sculptures; symbolic of human effort through technology to defeat nature’s inevitable course.  @teardropcreates

RUTH GILBERT studied  Art Education at  RISD in Providence, and worked for several years as an Art Teacher in Connecticut and New York. Once in New York, Ruth continued her own art making, taking advanced painting classes in Westchester, Printmaking at Purchase College, and Alternative Photography at Penland.  She was fortunate to see the “Happenings” of Allan Kaprow and Robert Rauschenberg.  For Ruth, these events are still major influences in her own work.  She began working in Alternative Photography processes—Hand-Colored Dye Transfer, Kwik Print, and Kallitype (Sun Prints). She has exhibited her work at the Hudson River Museum, The Bronx Museum and the Pindar Gallery in Soho. @ruthgilbert1484

DANIEL HAUBEN is acclaimed as the Bronx’s most prolific, versatile painter.  Working in both oil paint and oil pastel,  he has spent over 30 years capturing the life of the Bronx on canvas or paper.  His work is part of the collections at The White House and the Library of Congress.  Hauben has also been awarded various artist residencies at the Julia & David White Artist’s Colony in Costa Rica, Fundacion Valparaiso in Spain, as well as the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Virginia.  Hauben and his wife, Judith Lange, live in the Bronx. @danielhaubenartist

JORDAN MOSS lives in Kingsbridge Heights and began doing mixed media artwork following his brain cancer surgery in 2012. He works mostly with reused cardboard like egg cartons and fruit containers. He’s had previous exhibits at An Beal Bocht in Riverdale and Blue Door Art Center. @jordanmossbx

NATHALIE MERCADO is a photographer and artist. She’s currently exploring simple line work drawing as her celebration of everyday occurrences. Bringing to the observer, a sweetness to realizing art isn’t something one has to conquer in order to enjoy it. Ms. Mercado lives in Yonkers.  @songofnaly

ROBERT SILVERMAN was born and educated in New York City.  Mr. Silverman graduated from the High School of Music and Art, and  Cooper Union, majoring in graphic design.  He worked as a graphic artist for several prestigious design groups before opening his own studio, including illustrating Time Magazine covers.   Mr. Silverman pursued graduate studies in classical fine art at the New York Academy of Art and a course of study at the Grand Central Academy. He has shown his work throughout the country and in Europe and has been recognized with a covey of awards.  Silverman lives with his wife, Antoinette, in Riverdale.

A WAY OF SEEING, Paintings & Photographs

George M. Gutierrez and Harry Mandel.

Opens: Sunday April 4, 2022 and Closes: May 15, 2022.
Closing Reception: Sunday, Ma y15, 2022 from 2:00 PM—4:00 PM.

HARRY MANDEL is an internationally known photographer, born in a DP Camp just outside of Munich, Germany. His parents were Holocaust Survivors. Mr. Mandel saw photography as both capturing a moment in history, and an art form. Studying the paintings of Rembrandt, DaVinci, and Norman Rockwell taught him about composition. Mr. Mandel has won international awards and recognition and been published in various periodicals. Most recently Mr. Mandel made photographs for Cellino Law, and they are being used in their TV commercial. His landscapes, urbanscapes, and street photography show Mr. Mandel’s unique viewpoint and perspective. Mr. Mandel lives in Inwood, Manhattan, NY.

GEORGE M. GUTIERREZ is a New York artist and NYT photojournalist who makes art depicting the shape of things—landscapes, houses, cars, places, and perception. His paintings are known for his unique use of color, sometimes figurative and bordering on the abstract.
Mr. Gutierrez has won over a hundred awards including the Pulitzer Prize with The New York Times. His work also includes OpEd Art, illustration, album cover art, drawing, collage, painting, and assemblage.
Published in The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, The Village Voice, The Riverdale Press, and other periodicals and publications. Mr. Gutierrez has studios
in Yonkers and Riverdale, and lives in Riverdale, NY. with his wife, Dr. Romina Carrillo Gutierrez.

Yesteryear: The Jerry Bloedow Memorial Exhibit

Photographs by Jerry Bloedow

Gallery 18 is privileged to present the photographs of Jerry Bloedow as its last exhibit of 2021, entitled YESTERYEAR. A memorial exhibit, it will be displayed in virtual form only from December 3 through the end of January 2022. Click here to view the online exhibit.

YESTERYEAR skips past the pre-pandemic world we lived in to illumine one much farther back in time and ripe for nostalgia: seen, rightly or wrongly, as more innocent, trusting, and self-reliant. Certainly, the images of children and young adults at play show them as resourceful in gaining pleasure out of simple things and arranging the surrounding spaces to suit them.

These photographs have never been displayed publicly until now. Jerry Bloedow probably never considered photography as anything other than an avocation, given his long career as a movie editor and moviemaker; and yet, they are the work of a professional, highly engaging in their spontaneous capturing of children and adults, singly or in groups, playing or working or simply, as one of the photographs shows, looking on. There is, even in the quiet moments, a great sensitivity to inner movement and awareness. The entire oeuvre breathes humanism and caring and suggests it is the work of an artist embodying those values, as indeed it was, given his own moviemaking output and his social and political activism.

As a professional film editor and a maker of films and videos, Bloedow had a long and distinguished career in both the commercial and not-for-profit worlds: in advertising, industrials, public relations and training films, PSAs and After-School Specials, and other made-for-television projects, including, as editor, the PBS Special “The Other Side of the Moon,” made for the 20th Anniversary of the astronauts’ journey into space.

He had an equally productive teaching career, teaching film editing at the School of Visual Arts; as Adjunct Associate Professor of Film and Video at New York University’s School of Continuing Education; and as Fulbright Scholarship Lecturer at the University of Poona in Pune, India.

Among his many publications are a paper delivered to the first Eastman-Kodak Conference on Visual Literacy, entitled “How to Motivate Children to Learn”; a paper delivered to the first Kent State Conference on movies, which took its title from the name of the paper, “Holding the Vision”; and his book on film production, “Filmmaking Foundations,” published by Focal Press in 1990. Notably, it received a 5-star review on the goodreads website in 2015.

For any viewer interested in purchasing the photographs, private viewings can be arranged. In addition, the images (along with others not displayed in this exhibit) will be available in a 2022 calendar that can be purchased at $20 apiece.

Aleph Beit in New York City

By Bracha Rosenbaum

Gallery 18 at the Riverdale Y takes great pleasure in announcing artist Bracha Rosenbaum’s second solo show “Aleph Beit in New York City:” 22 acrylic paintings of the Hebrew alphabet as sighted in walks through New York City. As with her debut exhibit last year, these painting are a celebration of heritage, hope, and faith, particularly welcome these days. They will be on display from September 15 through October 31.

Rosenbaum has been working on these paintings for the past few years, seeking out the hidden in plain sight. “I have been exploring my own backyard, New York City, to find architecture and objects that resemble letters of the Hebrew alphabet. I spot them in all sorts of interesting places such as on gates, cars, signs, and skyscrapers. Some are east to spot; others I have to hunt for.”

The inspiration for the project came from a favorite book she read to her children called “Alphabet City.” When she realized how some of them struggled to learn Hebrew letters in a traditional way, she decided to make a similar book for the Hebrew alphabet. She reached out to author Stephen T. Johnson, who wrote back: “Yours sounds terrific and no doubt challenging. Happy to see what you are up to.”

His comment was on-target. The artist relates that, besides finding the urban equivalent, “…the process of creating each image can be time consuming. After I find a letter, I photograph and edit it. Then I go to my studio to sketch and paint it.”

One of the first letters she found leapt out large. “I saw a yellow crane on the West Side and thought it would make for an awesome Daled. I’ve been debating whether to repaint some of the earlier ones but think it’s interesting to see my progression.”

Although she created this visual way of looking at Hebrew letters for children, she has found to her delight that both children and adults are excited to look through the images and seek out the letters. Her goal is to compile them into a book and present it to her daughter’s Pre 1 A class.

Rosenbaum’s training is as a pharmacist, but she has a rich artistic heritage. Her mother, a talented oil painter, introduced her to the world of art and art making. Her great-uncle, Solomon Menco, was a talented Dutch artist, who was murdered by the Nazis. His paintings were posthumously exhibited in Yad Vashem. She has studied with Lauren Anderson and Will Kemp. To see her latest creations, go to @artbybracha.

When We Were Out In The World, Showing Our Faces

By Jeff Johnson

Gallery 18 at Riverdale Y is delighted to present OUT IN THE WORLD, SHOWING OUR FACES — photographs by Jeff Johnson.   This exhibit showcases a selection of images carefully curated by the artist that show life on the go before COVID-19.  With his “seasoned eye,” Jeff captures moments in time and frames them within beautifully composed and detailed settings.

A Riverdale resident for the past 15 years, Johnson was born in New York City and raised in East Texas.  With degrees from Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley, he has worked in both academics and finance.  He studied photography at Harvard’s Visual Arts Center  where his major influences were Walker Evans, Ansel Adams and the iconic Family of Man Collection at MOMA.  Most recently he has worked closely under the informal tutelage of several established photographic artists who have viewed his work critically.

Johnson works with a Fujifilm x100, Sony RX-100, Lumix fz1000, Nexus 6P and Pixel 4a.  None of the images have been assembled or altered with Photoshop.

Please share your comments with Jeff Johnson at jsjbronx@gmail.com.

Wireworks: Wire and Bead Art

By Bernard Domingo

May 17 – June 13

Gallery 18 at the Riverdale Y is delighted to present Wireworks, Bernard Domingo’s exhibit of Wire and Bead Art. The exhibit will be on display from May 17 through June 13 at the Riverdale Y, 5625 Arlington Avenue.  The Opening Reception will be held on May 16 at the Riverdale Y Sunday Market, 4545 Independence Avenue, from 12-2pm.

Bernard Domingo first started creating toys out of coat hanger wires when he was a boy in Zimbabwe because they were too expensive to buy.  After a while, people started to ask him to make pieces for them, and he realized that he had a talent that he could focus on and turn into a business.  A few years later, he had the opportunity to go to Europe.  He sold his artwork in Germany, Holland, and England before he came to the United States.  He refers to his creations as Domingo Wire Works.

Domingo makes two types of artwork – craft and sculptures.  He uses galvanized wire and beads, soda cans, and copper wire.  His favorite genre is animals that are made of galvanized wire.  The technique is to start off with the frame of the animal and then add the beads.

Domingo’s goal is for everyone to enjoy his art.  This universal quality makes his sculptures accessible to all who see it, and invites us to look more closely.  Bernard Domingo can be contacted at bencraftz@yahoo.com.

AWAKENING

Artists Judith Eloise Hooper, Dennis Shelton, Tony Wells

April 12 – May 10

A collaborative exhibit consisting of works by paper sculpture artist Judith Eloise Hooper and paper collagists Dennis Shelton and Tony Wells. The Opening Reception will be held on April 11 from 12PM to 2PM out-of-doors at the Riverdale Y’s Sunday Market, located in the parking lot of the Riverdale Temple, 4545 Independence Avenue. A Virtual Artists’ Presentation is scheduled for April 8 at 8pm via Zoom

AWAKENING celebrates rebirth in its many forms, including, as Hooper puts it: “…the dreamed anticipation of life anew…the music we wait for, the things we hope to do, the changes we dream of, and the flowers that return regardless of lockdowns and isolation.”

For Wells, rebirth meant “…one that I’m sharing with billions of others…a massive rebirth grounded in gratitude of interactions and their joys, of breath itself, and a shared sacrifice for our well-being.”

Shelton’s inspiration came from his memories of journeying from the Deep South to New York City, with rebirth signifying “…an awakening to the grandeur of this great metropolis and a revival of interest in spaces, both rural and urban.”

The show consists of six individual art pieces from each artist, three collaborative pieces, and three variations on the same iconic image. Given the quality of the individual pieces, one hesitates to call the three Collaborations and the three Variations on a Theme the highlight of the show. Still, there is an inherent excitement in seeing three artists, who have not previously worked together artistically, take a piece started by another and bring it to completion. It is equally stimulating to view three different takes on the same famous image.

Although they come from different backgrounds in terms of training and experience, all three artists have exhibited extensively in New York City and surrounds, have garnered Best-in-Shows, and have acted as jurors/judges/curators for group exhibits.

If Not Now When?: Celebrating Black History Month

Gallery 18 is pleased to announce our second annual exhibit of Celebrating Black History Month, entitled If Not Now, When. It will be on virtual display only from February 1 to March 1. View Virtual Exhibit. View Reception Video. Click here to register for the Follow-Up Event to the Black History Month Exhibit.

This year, Gallery 18 thought, with its exhibit title, to seize the immediate moment, the one born out of the Black Lives Matter protests during the summer in this country, indeed throughout the world, propelled by the death of George Floyd. The theme seeks to capture the spirit of this movement and to keep it before our eyes. Its origin are the words of Hillel the Elder: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And being only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

The art pieces in the show range widely in style, medium, and point-of-view toward the theme, but they are one in packing an emotional punch. In large measure, they are provocative, meant to draw out active engagement and participation around the issue of the great American racial divide and the continuing inequities and pain that plague us.

To ensure high quality, the show was juried by two outstanding artists, Ken Jackson, whose work is graphic illustration, portrait, and figurative paintings, and Dennis Shelton, who works in collage, mixed media, and wood assemblages.

As in last year’s exhibit, the artist backgrounds represented are a healthy mix, underscoring the need for all voices to be raised in order to stimulate thought, discussion and, ultimately, solutions. Now. Not when.

Click here to view the Gallery 18 Opening Reception.

ENCHANTMENTS

Mixed Media Paintings by Lisette Overweel

Gallery 18 at Riverdale Y is pleased to present Lisette Overweel’s exhibit of mixed media paintings, to be on virtual view only from December 20, 2020 to January 29, 2021. There will be a virtual Opening Reception on Sunday, January 17 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm with the Artist speaking about her work amid an open exchange of questions and comments from participants. Click here to join the Gallery 18 Opening Reception.

Dutch artist Lisette Overweel-Monshouwer was born in Dordrecht, the Netherlands and took a detour on her way to painting via Law Studies in Rotterdam and work as a Senior Court Registrar for 18 years. During this time, she took up painting and subsequently began art studies, taking courses at the Art Academy Utrecht and Barteljee Studio in Holland and the Kunsthochschule Dresden in Germany.

Fortuitously, her daily work served as inspiration for a series of abstract paintings on daily life in the courts. This collection was shown in numerous venues across the Netherlands and is now on permanent display in the Courts of Dordrecht, Rotterdam, and Maastricht.

Her art soon began to incorporate other styles and subjects, among the latter: dancers, sport figures, nature, and animals, especially dogs, a collection based on her puppy Zsa-Zsa being exhibited at, among other venues, Gallery Bohner, Mannheim, Germany. Her paintings of dancers and sport figures have been exhibited at Gallery Cielo Bello in Sedona, Arizona and in several shows and venues, including sport facilities, in New York City and New Rochelle, New York.

Now permanently in the United States, she continues to paint on a daily basis, participating in shows in New York City, Westchester, and surrounding areas, garnering awards in the process, including two from the online Gallery Light Space & Time for a series entitled “Stars & Stripes.” This series was shown at the Rye Art Center in Rye, New York and at the Art to the Avenue event in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Overweel’s current focus is nature-inspired mixed media paintings. In her words, “I am trying to capture the colors of nature, to bring them into the homes of art lovers…But even more, my figurative and flower paintings are intertwined now, to show the connection between humans and nature and the beauty of it.” As such, she seeks to create a mystic ambiance to capture this connection, developing new mixed media techniques and using all kinds of materials, such as paper, lace, sand, and salt to enhance this dreamlike atmosphere.

The artist also loves to make paintings on request to fit in home or office and asks that interested parties please contact her. www.lisette.gallery. She can also be found on Facebook and Instagram.

Fragmented Cohesion

By Dennis Shelton

Gallery 18 at the Riverdale Y is pleased to present the fourth exhibit in as many years of artworks by Dennis Shelton—and a whole new side of this talented artist using the medium of wood in the form of assemblages. The art will be on view from November 13 to December 13, 2020, with an actual, not virtual Opening on Sunday, November 15 from 12-2pm. All are welcome, but masks are required and visitors will be allowed into the gallery about 5-7 at a time. However, there will be an attraction on view in the lobby and enough room for social distancing.

Two things triggered the wood assemblages in this exhibit: the artist’s childhood memory of taking unrelated wood pieces and creating an artistic whole from them, and his response to the pandemic. “I remember the joy and satisfaction, but more importantly the feeling of peace and safety wood provided.  In the midst of Covid-19, with feelings surrounding me of isolation and separation, disorder and confusion, fear and danger, loneliness and despair, I wanted and needed a safe place to land.”

Although Shelton is well-known for his paper collages, he turned specifically to wood’s strength and character, namely, its hardihood and sense of permanence, which paper with its fragility cannot impart. Using small and unrelated wood pieces to make both abstract and face compositions allowed the artist to make a statement about unity in dark times and the strength of togetherness despite the realities of the coronavirus.

As the artist explains: “The colors black, white, and gray represent people and the mood of these times. The red, blue, yellow, and green represent the four elements needed for the sustainability of life.” On the other hand: “The faces were left in their raw and true state, beautiful in spite of any imperfections.”

The result is a show that has movement, balance, and unity, mirroring the parts of our lives that help us maintain sanity in a dark world. It is a show that exudes resilience and hope.

A long-time Bronx resident, Shelton completed both undergraduate and graduate studies in art, art education, and printmaking at Lehman College, where he became Adjunct Professor of Education, teaching early childhood and elementary school teachers. For 35+ years, he was an art teacher at John F. Kennedy High School, inspiring through his own artwork and love of art a multitude of future artists.

Officially retired from teaching in 2016, he has continued to produce artwork on a full-time basis.

He has had solo art shows at Gallery 18, KRVC’s Gallery 505, Riverdale-Yonkers Ethical Culture Center, and Riverdale Senior Services Center, where he won first and second place ribbons in Mixed Media and Drawing at the Vintage Art Show. He has also exhibited in group shows at Blue Door Art Center and Riverfront Gallery in Yonkers, Beth El Temple in New Rochelle, and the Poe Art Center in the Bronx. His inspirations for this show are Stuart Davis, Pablo Picasso, Romare Bearden, and African Tribal Masks/Art.

Chiaroscuro in a Seasoned Lens

By Jeff Johnson

Gallery 18 at the Riverdale Y is pleased to announce Jeff Johnson’s much-anticipated second exhibit of photographs, on display from October 18 to November 13.

The bulk of images in Jeff Johnson’s new show are a continuing excursion into the urban landscape, but this time in marvelous black-and-white, hearkening back to the artist’s first forays into the art and technique of photography. As Johnson puts it: “My beginnings … were in the mid-twentieth century. To me, then, photographic art was in black and white: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Edward Steichen, Ed Ruscha. Forms were delineated more like Dürer’s engravings than like Rembrandt’s still lifes. Color photography existed, but to me it was less abstracted from reality, and thus, less ‘art’.

“In those days, I loaded my 35mm rangefinder camera with Kodak Tri-X Pan film. Now, in the twenty-first century, I work digitally in both color and black and white—but I still prize the black-and-white rendering of light and shadow.”

Indeed, the black-and-white images in the show, taken over the past five years, were made in just such a pursuit of those combinations of texture, form, and composition that create the interplay of light and shadow, its complexities arresting and captivating the eye, inviting it to linger more than momentarily.

Re. the tinted photographs in the show, Johnson adds: “Most recently, I have realized that I can use color photography not to show actuality but an abstracted vision”— in this case, details of the magnificent early twentieth century iron work crossing Manhattan Valley north from 125th Street.

A Riverdale resident for the past 15 years, Johnson was born in New York City, lived in the Bronx (Parkchester) and was raised in East Texas.  With degrees from Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley, he worked in both academics and finance.

He studied photography at Harvard’s Visual Arts Center, where his major influences were Walker Evans, Ansel Adams, and the iconic Family of Man Collection at MOMA.  Most recently he has worked closely under the informal tutelage of two established photographic artists, one in particular inviting close viewing of and comments on his work and, in return, viewing Johnson’s work critically.

Johnson works with a Fujifilmx100, SonyRX-100, Lumix fz1000, Nexus 6P and Pixel 2xl. He develops his images using Adobe Lightroom to crop and to adjust color and intensity. None of the images have been assembled or altered with Photoshop nor are they displayed anywhere online. Each print is framed and matted with archival materials and available in a signed edition from his studio.

Echoes of Israel

By Bracha Rosenbaum

The Opening Reception, scheduled for September 13 from 12PM to 2PM, will be held at an outdoor venue familiar to many: the Riverdale Y’s Sunday Market situated in the parking lot of the Riverdale Temple, 4545 Independence Avenue. From there, it will go directly to the walls of Gallery 18 and will be on view until October 9 on days/hours to be announced.

In creating her paintings, Rosenbaum eschews making an exact copy of what she sees, instead drawing on wellsprings of faith, learning, and experience, as well as an inner eye, to find and reproduce the spirit, the feeling and flavor of the subject, rather than a faithful reproduction. As she puts it: “Capturing the essence is everything for me. It opens my exploration into texture and color. Sometimes I spend more time mixing my paints than actually painting.”

Within “Echoes of Israel” is a subseries entitled “Travels through the Holy Land.” The inspiration for this set comes from photographs Rosenbaum took while touring the Holy Land in 2018. There are images of breathtaking landscapes, bustling cities, sidewalk cafes, outdoor markets, and historic preservations, each painting telling the story of a place that touched her heart. She takes you through the crowded, curved roads of the old city to the wide plazas of the kotel (Western Wall); or on the turquoise-lined streets of Tzfat and to the fishermen of the Mediterranean coast. “Travels through the Holy Land” will later be published in book form.

While Rosenbaum is trained as a pharmacist, she has a rich artistic heritage. She credits her mother, a talented oil painter, with introducing her to the world of art and art making. She also draws inspiration from her great-uncle, Solomon Menco, a talented Dutch artist who was murdered by the Nazis. Solomon’s paintings were posthumously exhibited in Yad Vashem. She has studied with Lauren Anderson and Will Kemp. Her creative influences include Claude Monet, Jean Even, and Theodor Geisel (more popularly known as Dr. Seuss). When she is not busy with her loving family and friends, you can find her happily working in solitude in her studio. To see her latest creations, go to @artbybracha.

As Long As We Both Shall Live: Long-Married Couples in America

By Robert Fass

Gallery 18 is pleased to present a beautiful and provocative photographic exhibit by artist Robert Fass called “As Long As We Both Shall Live: Long-Married Couples in America.” It will be on display from March 1 to April 30, 2020, with an Opening Reception on Sunday, March 8 from 12-2PM.

“As Long As We Both Shall Live” grew out of a portrait session with Fass’s parents, married for 47 years, in the summer of 1997, shortly before the sudden death of his father. In the decade that followed, Fass traveled the country, documenting long-term American marriages and the infinite variety thereof: from an Auschwitz death march escapee and his wife in Ohio to fundamentalist Christians in Texas to a homosexual ex-priest and his wife of 49 years; rich or poor, healthy or infirm, in love or not.

In addition to making the portraits, Fass recorded his conversations with his subjects, discussing their history and their outlook on the institution of marriage, in an attempt to capture something of the glue that binds them. The comments on display in the exhibit are drawn from these in-depth conversations, which are available on the official website www.longmarriedcouples.com.

The rapid change in social values in the second half of the 20th Century left these couples as the last generation to look on marriage as an essentially indissoluble bond. In the artist’s words: “In the faces and the histories of people who have weathered the ups and downs of marriage and endured together for most of their lives … there are riches.”

Even so, as pre-marital sex and divorce have become acceptable bookends to marriage, and as domestic partnerships, same-sex and transgender marriages, and other “non-traditional” unions make their way into the mainstream, the institutional concept of marriage as the fundamental basis of family stands ripe for re-examination. Gallery 18 is planning a special event to do just that.

“As Long As We Both Shall Live” was previously exhibited in the United States at the 92nd Street Y, where it received a major exhibition in 2006. It subsequently traveled in Europe. Robert Fass has received numerous grants and fellowships: from the Puffin, Ruth Chenven, and Mancini Family Foundations, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Fundación Valparaiso in Spain, the Saltonstall Foundation in Ithaca, New York, the Caldera Colony in Sisters, Oregon, and the Julia and David White Colony in Costa Rica. His background includes studies in environmental portraiture with Shelby Lee Adams, in printing with Nancy Sirkis at the International Center of Photography, and in fine printing with Adam Eidelberg at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. He lives in the Bronx.

Where We Were, Where We Are, Where We Want To Be

By: Various Artists

Gallery 18 proudly announces our February exhibit “Celebrating Black History Month: Where We Were, Where We Are, Where We Want To Be.” It will be on display from January 31 to February 28, with an Opening Reception on Sunday, February 9 from 12-2pm.

A little history: The origins of Black History Month go back to about 1915, when Carter G. Woodson, a prominent African-American scholar and educator, with a Masters degree in history from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in the same subject from Harvard University, sought to change the prevailing dialogue surrounding American history and its instruction, in which African-Americans were consistently underrepresented. To further this endeavor, he and the association he founded with others (now known as the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History) chose to designate the second week in February—because it contained both Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on the 12th and Frederick Douglass’s birthday on the 14th—as one devoted to the study of African-American history. In the mid-1960s, the week became a month, and in 1976, it became a national observance.

While each year a specific theme is given to Black History Month in a taking stock of important issues (this year’s is “African-Americans and the Vote”), Gallery 18 has chosen to go with the broader revisiting of  “where we were, where we are, where we want to be.”

The response in the art received has been wide-ranging, deeply felt, provocative, beautiful, artistically accomplished. On display in this group show are a variety of subjects in a multiplicity of media—oil, acrylic, collage, photography, pencil, mixed media, fiber art—providing a rich array of past, present, and future doings and musings. Individually and as a group, it is stirring in its power and emotional content.

To ensure such high quality, the show was juried by two African-American artists, Judith Eloise Hooper, an artist working in different media but currently exploring 3D portraits in paper, and Tony Wells, a mixed media artist working primarily in collage.

What might surprise the visitor to the exhibit is the mix of artist backgrounds represented—African-American, to be sure, but also White, Asian, Latinx, nonAmerican—with takes on the theme to stimulate plenty of food for thought and discussion.

Fault Lines

By Philip Feller

Gallery 18 is pleased to kick off the New Year with an eye-catching exhibit by artist Philip Feller called “Fault Lines.” It will be on display from January 2 to January 30, 2019, with an Opening Reception on Sunday, January 5 from 12-2PM.

With a BA and an MA in English Literature from City College, Philip Feller’s professional experience comprises 50 years of technical theatre, that is, working on Broadway as carpenter, automation operator and property person to produce the magic that directors, designers, and audience alike anticipate.

Early in his career, beginning in 1970, he began experimenting in printmaking, working initially with stencils and blocks to make pictures on surfaces, inspired by a host of shapes from the natural world and from his imagination, from artifacts, detritus, commercial art. All of these spurred the desire to examine, to transform, to re-color, to reposition, in short, to create a new form out of the old.

Since 2002, Feller has been focused primarily on leaves. Each piece—whether produced by rubbing, outline, embossing, printing black-on-white or on color fields—gets several visits by adding layers and colors.

In the artist’s words: “I am always looking for new shapes to represent and reimagine … draw[ing] inspiration from far-flung cultures and imagery, primarily historical, that I find on walls and floors of churches and synagogues, on gravestones, in museums.”

Why the title “Fault Lines?” A fault, in geology, is a fracture in rock that causes significant displacement in rock mass. A fault line indicates where the discontinuity lies. In this show, the fault lines are the outlines or tracings of leaves or other objects where the masses of material have been displaced. The discontinuities allow for new color and images to become part of the original design and for intriguing patterns to emerge that beg to be transposed onto ever new surfaces.

Feller has exhibited at Westbeth Gallery and Bank Street College Gallery in Manhattan and at Urban Studio Unbound, Riverfront Gallery, Blue Door Art Gallery and Phillipse Manor Hall in Yonkers.

The Clothesline Show: Going, Going, GONE

By: Various Artists

Gallery 18 takes pleasure in announcing its first-ever silent auction/benefit! Entitled “The Clothesline Show: Going, Going, GONE,” it will be on display from December 3 to December 31, 2019. The auction itself ends Thursday, December 19, 2019.

December’s show celebrates “Small Works on Paper” in the theme of “Holiday Spirit,” however the artists choose to interpret it. Unframed, inserted into job ticket sleeves, and hung on a clothesline throughout the gallery, the art works comprise a show that couldn’t be less pretentious.

And for a good reason, namely, as a way of using simple means to benefit artist, gallery, and community! The artist is spared the framing expense, as well as any entry or hanging fees; the gallery benefits by receiving 40% of sales, rather than its normal 20%; and the community, with bids starting at a very modest $25, gets to buy art at highly affordable prices. It’s a win-win-win in keeping with the Holiday Season!

The sub-theme of the show is: Art is for everyone! Vistors to the gallery are asked to consider giving one of the exhibited art pieces instead of a tie, a “fun” gift, a bottle of wine. Art is more lasting and has more impact than many a gift any of us will give or receive this season. And with bids that start so very low for very accomplished artwork, this is the chance to acquire for a friend or family member a real find!

I Like to Draw Stuff

By Hal Katz

Gallery 18 is delighted to present our much-anticipated November exhibit by artist Hal Katz, entitled “I Like to Draw Stuff.” It will be on display from November 3 to December 2, 2019, with an Opening Reception on Sunday, November 10 from 12-2PM.

Hal Katz never took an art class nor had a teacher; he taught himself to draw. Determined to become proficient and produce work that wasn’t derivative and was beautiful to look at, he started to learn the craft by doing realistic pen and ink drawings..This was followed by a period of drawing mandalas, each drawing containing two interconnected mandalas: one that could be seen in daylight and the other that could be seen only in the.dark.

As this proved a very niche endeavor, he decided to expand and draw abstract and nonrepresentational art, which evolved into adding high tech inks and acrylics to his work. His goal was to create pieces that interacted with the viewer, the paintings changing as the viewer changed the angle of viewing and as the light they reflected changed. He calls this work “Playing with Light.” The current show includes some of these pieces as well as the mandalas, along with other work reflecting strong compositional lines, a sure sense of color, strong and subtle at once, and an unexpected streak of whimsy. It is, in short, a show full of vigor and variety.

Katz has exhibited locally, including a number of solo shows at Gallery 18, and non-locally in such venues as the Kranter-Krazner Museum in New Rochelle, the Fridge Art Fair on the Lower East Side, the Affordable Art Fair in Manhattan, Blue Door Art Center in Yonkers, and as far away as the Case Museum in Colorado.  His work has also found homes in hospitals and medical centers and in private collections.  He is a member of the Riverdale Art Association.

The current show is called “I Like to Draw Stuff.”  Here’s why, in the artist’s words: “My first idea was to call my work paintings but I don’t use paint, I use ink and all kinds of pens and nibs.  So I thought I would call them “inkings,” but that’s what tattoos are called. The work in this show is mostly pen and ink drawings, but I also use aerosol sprays, paper towels, sponges, squeegees, etc., so calling them pen and ink drawings isn’t always correct.  All the glowing works use acrylics, so ink alone isn’t always correct either.  So I call my work ‘stuff.’  I hope you like my stuff.”

Tree Time

By Artists of the Riverdale Art Association

Gallery 18 takes pleasure in announcing its October exhibit “TREE TIME: Works by Artists of the Riverdale Art Association.” It will be on view from October 7 to November 3, 2019, with the Opening Reception scheduled for October 13 from 12-2pm. All are invited to attend!

The Riverdale Art Association (RAA) comprises a group of artists who work in all media: acrylic, ceramic, collage, computer graphics, digital art, fiber, graphics, ink, mixed media, oil, printmaking, sculpture, watercolor, wood. While not all of these are represented in this show, a wide variety are, and our view as visitors of the specific theme, “Trees,” changes according to the form, letting us see them as objects of beauty, habitat, mystery, serenity, splendor, whimsy. These are trees in their multiple manifestations: bark, leaves, full foliage, bare branches, trees throughout their recurring life cycle, so that we appreciate them as living creatures, just as we are.

RAA President Dennis Shelton puts the show in a historical context: “I believe that this is the perfect time to take a closer look at trees and their importance to our continued existence, especially with the drastic changes in climate. I was extemely moved by the power of the tree motif to inspire such differing visions and artistic approaches. It is definitely Tree Time.”

The membership must have felt the same, because roughly half took on the challenge of not only a themed show but a juried one. The artists were allowed to submit up to four pieces of art, which then went through a judging process by outside art professionals who winnowed the original 52 art works from 19 artists down to 37. This exhibit is the result.

The judges who agreed to view the artwork and make the final selection were Luis Perelman, co-Founder and co-Executive Director of Blue Door Art Center in Yonkers; Julie Cousens, co-Executive Director of BDAC, and Enrico Giordano, Chair and Associate Professor of Fine Arts at the College of Mount St. Vincent. Although one juror had to bow out at the last minute, gallery and association alike thank them all!

RAA’s purpose is to provide the supportive atmosphere and programs in which members can find inspiration, knowledge, and enjoyment for the art-making process in company with like-minded artists of all levels: beginner, semi-professional, and professional.

As a community-minded organization, it actively seeks out public spaces to display its artwork. It currently has regularly scheduled shows at Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture in Fieldston and Metro Urgicare Clinic in the Skyview Mall. It also has works currently on display in KRVC’s Gallery 505. Most recently, it was selected by New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi to be the first of community art organizations to grace with its artwork the reception area of her new office in Lower Riverdale. An art piece by RAA’s President Dennis Shelton had the honor of being chosen to hang between two flags on the wall behind the Senator’s chair. For more on RAA, see https://riverdaleartassociation.org/

Permeated by Paint: Art Works on Silk

By Irma Kramer

Gallery 18 takes pride in announcing our September exhibit “Permeated by Paint: Art Works on Silk” by Irma Kramer. A memorial exhibit, it consists of both paintings and scarves, which will be on view from September 4 to October 4, 2019, with an Opening Reception on September 8 from 12-2pm. All are welcome.

Irma Kramer was a long-time Bronx resident and member of the Riverdale Art Association, enjoying the creative community that it provided and treasuring the friendships she made there. She exhibited in group shows with them and in her own solo show at Gallery 18.

Animated by a love of creating art that began in early childhood and lasted the length of her days, she created works of sculpture, painting, drawing, jewelry, ceramics, crafts, and other modalities. She also taught art: multi-media, painting, and arts and crafts to students of all ages, including at the Riverdale Y, the United Federation of Teachers, and in summer programs.

As the Director of the Senior Citizen Program at the Bronx YM-YWHA for 25 years, Irma was an innovator.  She created travel programs and socializing lunch programs that were ahead of their time and often copied. She introduced, developed, and supervised new art programs, such as cooperative mural painting, and classes in different media. Near the end of her career, she brought a teacher of silk painting to the Y to give a demonstration to her senior citizens.

She was enthralled by painting on silk from the moment she was exposed to it. It became the focal point of her art for the duration of her “retirement,” a period of over 25 years. She found it exhilarating to be challenged by the delicate fabric and how the colors moved so quickly through it. Her finished works included paintings on silk, scarves, clothing, pillows, and wall hangings.

In addition, Irma loved painting with more traditional media and on a variety of subject matters, those of women being among her favorites. Her Jewish-themed paintings seem to speak to what lay at the heart of Judaism to her: the joy, the togetherness, the soul, the love.

Irma lived her life with the joy and color and vibrancy that permeated her paintings. Beauty to Irma was in everything around her, not just captured in a work of art. On the setting sun, she would remark: “God really knows how to paint a masterpiece!”

SPLASH!

By Danielle Lehtinen

Gallery 18 is pleased to announce our August exhibit SPLASH!, a show of abstract acrylic paintings on canvas by Danielle Lehtinen, on view from August 7 to September 3, 2019.

Exuberant, bold, lively in color and texture, playful and fun, this exhibit is like taking a leap into cooling waters in the heat of summer. According to Lehtinen, her work is decorative in nature (think the perfect living room focal point). “My paintings are a sort of jewelry for the walls. Color, movement, and spontaneity are key.” The work is abstract, although many find representational content.

Lehtinen is Polish-born, American-bred, having come with her family to the United States as a young girl. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in Art/Art History and Philosophy at SUNY Stony Brook and her Masters of Art and Philosophy at Columbia University. Her early oil seascapes and ceramics were followed by conceptual installations.  She was one of “The Nine” women artists exhibiting work at the Stony Brook Art Gallery and at Rabinowitz & Guerra Gallery in SoHo.

She subsequently taught Aesthetics, Existentialism, and the History of Humanities at Adult Education Departments of Columbia, CUNY, and NYU, and for four years at the Parsons School of Design, where she was provided with the opportunity to study color theory and interior design. Lehtinen next took on the challenge of New York City’s Public School system, where she taught art and humanities for 25 years.

Back in Warsaw after retiring in order to settle her parents’ estate, she finally found the freedom and resources to paint full-time and took fullest advantage, having six exhibits in nine months with repeat offers from the Borowski Gallery, where her work all but sold out.

She continues to advance her professional development in art by visiting museums and galleries in New York and Florida and by attending major exhibitions, such as Basel/Art in Switzerland.  Her latest inspiration is Manhattan’s SoHo street art, where local artists recently invited her to showcase her work alongside theirs.

She has lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn and has now found a new home and base in Riverdale. Her advice for appreciating her—or any—art is simple: “Trust your eye and your heart. If you buy what you love, you can enjoy it daily.”  www.danielle-art.com

Cubist Portraits

By Dennis Shelton

The Opening Reception is Sunday, July 7 from 12PM – 2PM.

The collages in Dennis Shelton’s new show are all portraits made up of at least three other portraits, recycled from discarded magazines and books and each combined into one new, oddly recognizable whole.  Some of the faces will look distinctly familiar.  “Oh, that’s Shimon Peres” or “That’s Eleanor Roosevelt.”  But no!  As the artist points out, “the faces look familiar because we all are more similar than different.”  Something to ponder in an alienated world!

The series is made up of five sets, two of women and three of men, each set with a different background, also woven from different sources to create a new entirety.  The color palates and textures are distinctive in each, and each will trigger from its separate elements memories and connections we as viewers will make to the portraits and to ourselves, as we reflect on the tapestry of our own lives.

Indeed, it is Shelton’s intent “…to open the eyes of viewers, especially as we age, to our complexity as beings made up of many individuals who have influenced us, who reside within, and who make of us a whole.”

A long-time Bronx resident, Shelton completed both undergraduate and graduate studies in art, art education, and printmaking at Lehman College, before and during his tenure as art teacher at John F. Kennedy High School, devoting 35+ years to modeling the art-making process, both through his own artwork and his love of art, to inspire and motivate a multitude of future artists.

Officially retired from teaching in 2016, he has continued to produce artwork on a full-time basis.  He has had a solo art show at Gallery 18 three years running and solo exhibits at the Riverdale Senior Services Center as well, winning first and second place in show at its Vintage Art Show.  He has exhibited in group shows at the Riverdale-Yonkers Ethical Culture Center and at Blue Door Art Center and Riverfront Gallery in Yonkers.  He is now in his second year as President of the Riverdale Art Association.  His inspirations, evident in his art displayed in the past, have been Romare Bearden, Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse, and Jacob Lawrence.

Artist Gallery Talks for visiting groups such as schools and senior centers can be arranged and inquiries are most welcome. During the month of July, Dennis Shelton will be available for such a talk July 16-17 and July 22-24.