Urban: An Explorationof New York's Landscapes

Five pieces were picked up today for the upcoming exhibit, Urban: An Exploration of New York's Landscapes at the Dougherty Gallery at Crescent Grill. The show will feature the work of 5 artists - paintings, pastels, and photography exploring the New York urban landscape, my kind of subject. The Crescent Grill is a newly opened restaurant space in Long Island City, owned and operated by Dan and Shaun Dougherty. Chef Shaun whips up the goodies in the newly designed kitchen while Dan is host. This family run-restaurant opened in an area of LIC undergoing a lot of development and there wasn't much in the way of dining choices until they came along. Dan is a long-time Long Island City resident and a great supporter of the arts - especially local artists. Hence, the intimate gallery space that was created when the restaurant was built.

The opening reception is on Thursday, December 5, 2013 from 6 - 9 pm and the show runs though February 2, 2014. Hope you can stop by.

For info on the Crescent Grill click this link.

The Great Jones Street Fire House

The Fire House
Oil on canvas
8 x 10 inches
Sold

Today the blog Daytonian in Manhattan did a posting on Engine Company 33 located on Great Jones Street. After reading the detailed history, I was motivated to dig through my slide file and post this painting that I created in 1994 of the fire house. I was impressed by its stately architecture and the red really stands out on the block, especially when the sun is shining.

To read more about this landmarked building, check out Daytonian's post here.

Allied Artists of America 100th Annual Exhibition

LIC Looking Northwest
Oil on canvas
11 x 14 inches
Sold

Last Saturday I attended the 100th Annual Exhibition of the Allied Artists of America. The exhibition took place at the venerable National Arts Club in Gramercy Park. Large turnout for a large show. This annual highlights the work of artists working in a primarily realist manner and the quality of work was quite good. As was pointed out by one of the speakers during the afternoon's awards ceremony, fewer and fewer of these types of exhibits are being held in respected institutions, sad to say. Galleries continue to struggle and close and opportunities for artists to show their work dwindles. As I read about the record breaking auction results of the past week - millions going for a Francis Bacon and an Andy Warhol - I realized that had nothing to do with me as a working artist, or with any of the other artists I know. Just imagine how those many millions of dollars could have been spent on supporting the arts and artists of today.

I was delighted when the President of the Allied Artists came up to me during the reception and presented me with a check for my painting, LIC Looking Northwest. It had been sold - a sale totally unexpected and very welcome. I'm glad that groups such as Allied are still around - 100 years is a real achievement!

Exploring Manhattan's Murray Hill

Hot off the presses. I just received my copies of a new book by Alfred and Joyce Pommer, "Exploring Manhattan's Murray Hill" for which I created several paintings and pen and ink drawings which appear throughout the book. I enjoyed exploring this historic Manhattan neighborhood and picked up a lot of new information on the history along with some interesting tidbits.

Murray Hill - Sniffen Court
Oil on canvas
6 x 9 inches

One of the paintings is of Sniffen Court, located on East 36th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues. Originally constructed as stables for the nearby mansions, they were converted to residences and are a charming little enclave not far from the skyscrapers a few short blocks away. One of many notable people who populated the Murray Hill area was the sculptor Malvina Hoffman, who maintained a studio in Sniffen Court and lived nearby.

Pen and Ink drawing of Malvina Hoffman