The Sherry French Gallery in Chelsea warmly invites you to attend our summer realist painting and sculpture show, entitled “Gallery and Invited Artists.” In contrast to the oppressive New York heat, the gallery is a place to relax and enjoy the crisp detailed scenes described by such talented realist artists as Phil Schirmer and Victor Leger. The Sherry French Gallery also takes this time to introduce new artists, with fresh talent and vibrant subject matter, into the mix. Our invited artists include Janice Anthony, Fred Danziger, David Jermann, Victor Leger, Nancy Bea Miller, Nick Pattern, Peter Polites, Kay Ritter, Phil Schirmer, and Dean F. Thomas.
This is an exciting time for the gallery, when over twenty artists exhibit side-by-side. The display is relaxed, suited to the laid-back, carefree nature of summer. It is a chance for all of the various genres and mediums that the Sherry French Gallery represents to communicate in one space. The exhibit includes landscapes and cityscapes, still lifes and figurative paintings alike. Mediums range from bronze sculptures, to pastel on canvas, to oil on panel and watercolor on paper. Our open-ended presentation allows the viewer to design their own themes, to group together their favorite works, and to discover the artists that they will keep an eye on throughout the following year.
Phil Schirmer, a new addition to our gallery, has frozen time in his work using egg tempera as his medium. He paints with attention to the details in nature. And while he paints the trunk of the tree or the faces of the rocks piled one on top of another, it creates a different aura and dimension to his art. Many of his paintings generate a sense of serenity, but there is always a mystery behind his work. His paintings are very much intricate, which is intriguing to the eye. There is so much to see in one painting and he shows us a completely different world. His world focuses on the specificity of nature we as human beings may overlook in the fast paced world we live in.
An artist thinks and sees far from the realism. Victor Leger paints with that intention in addition to allowing others to see beyond the surface. These depictions of nature are far from simplistic; it enables you to pick an aspect of the painting and imagine. His paintings are on a medium of oil and panel. One painting is of the world between night and day. This is the time between two extremes- the hours of complete sunlight and the hours of complete darkness. Leger gives us the freedom to interpret his art, and he allows us to decide for ourselves the meaning behind the stillness in life. But rarely is life still; it is always moving and the time between day and night is to think, to dream, and to find.
Seemingly similar, Peter Polites paints, on a medium of oil on board, landscapes with specific attention to the sky, water and marsh. It brings you to a dream world, and his paintings allow you to believe that you are living in bliss. Recall the days where you sat outside on a spring day to look up to clouds that looked more like familiar faces and objects. Polites shares his idea of imaginary by giving you the freedom to see what cannot be painted. He paints what he sees and allows you to feel and to understand what is not palpable.
Polites says of his two paintings from his beloved Tybee Island: “As you can tell this place is special to me……… since I was a pre-teen. The scenes are of a vast expanse of marsh on the way to Tybee Island from Savannah. The views are generally to the south of the road which is on a built-up mound of earth trekking through the marsh. The approximate distant is roughly 14 to 15 miles from city to beach. Twice each day this magnificent basin fills with the high tide and then exhales to low tide. One incredible breath twice a day!”
Summer is the season for traveling. The Sherry French Gallery offers you the opportunity to go on vacation without leaving the city. Whether you want to explore the Alaskan tundra, climb the cliffs of Maine, or simply cool off, all you have to do is step into one of the magnificently rendered images that our artists have collected from around the nation.
