Renowned painter and sculptor, Elaine Galen will be debuting her new, monumental Triptych, Creation, as well as showing a series of Holy Land, Middle East and US landscapes in a new one-woman exhibit, “Paradise Lost and Found.”
The exhibit is curated by Elisa Tucci Contemporary Art.
The exhibit runs through February 28, 2010 at 153 East 53rd Street, New York (The Atrium Shops and Café, formerly Citigroup Center).
The exhibit is on two floors: Street Level (upper) and Plaza Level (lower.)
An Artists Reception will be held on Thursday, January 14th from 5 - 7:30 pm.
In partnership with Boston Properties and Midtown Arts Common.
About Creation
Creation is a culmination of several of the artist’s interests from ancient myths, stories and history to nature with all its primal glory and power. Creation is an oil on canvas triptych, 60” x 210”, which was painted in 2009.
The painting explores the human element – a time before and during the evolving concept of monotheism. The figures in Creation refer to primeval dances, reminiscent of those honoring the gods: Archaic Kouroi, Gallic Sardane, Gypsy Flamenco, Turkish Dervish and Chasidic expressions of ecstasy. Their movements exude passion, sensuality and joy.
Creation is also an homage to the power and glory of nature. The deserts and vistas of the Middle East and canyons and valleys of the American West have all served as inspiration for Elaine’s abstracted and surreal landscapes. Using mostly fragmented, multiple views of nature, she leaves us with a raw, contemporary view of our world and a new visual language.
As the critic Gerrit Henry wrote in Art in America, “Galen seems to have taken a leaf from the Abstract Expressionists and upped the intensity of her brushwork, as well as her painterly imaginings… What is exciting about Galen’s paintings is her ability to make the earthly divine.”
Elaine’s artwork has been exhibited in major museums throughout the world including the Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Israel Museum, and is part of many corporate and private collections.
Her work has been acclaimed by art critics and curators as “hauntingly beautiful” and “powerful” …”bordering on the visionary and surreal” and a “mystical realization of place.
