Lawrence Fine Art announced that its summer exhibition schedule will highlight new developments in abstraction.  The gallery will exhibit known masters along with emerging new voices across media.

"Artists continue to discover new dimensions in abstraction, and abstraction remains the dominant mode of artistic expression," explains Gallery Director Howard Shapiro. "We are calling this our 'Summer of Abstraction' to call attention to our exploration."

Lyrical abstraction, conceptual abstraction, geometric abstraction, abstract expressionism and fusion will all see strong representation in the summer's exhibitions.

The gallery will open its summer schedule on Saturday, May 23rd, Memorial Day Weekend with "Hard Edge:  Work by Sen2 and Reso." Both are well-known graffiti artists, Sen2 here in America and Reso in Germany, who have been working toward a graffiti-abstract fusion. The two have shown together before, in Europe and Puerto Rico, with much success.  "We like the combination of Latin passsion and German precision," says Shapiro.

Next the gallery takes a step back to the future when it shows new works by 84-year-old abstract expressionist-colorfield painter Joe Novak.  Novak's artistic background links him closely to what is generally known as the New York School.  His influences, including Rothko and Pollock, and mentors such as Peter Busa and Esteban Vicente, played key roles in the efflorescence of American abstract painting.

An exhibition in East Hampton marks a return of sorts for Novak:  He showed repeatedly in the 80s at Vered Gallery. His work is in numerous museum and private collections.

"New Voices" is the name of the next exhibition at Lawrence Fine Art.  It will look at three promising new artists:  Janet Mait, Suzanne LaFleur and Deb Lawrence. "Just when you think there is nothing new to say, these three come along and prove us wrong," says Shapiro. 

"David Einstein:  Raw Gestures" explores the work of California artist David Einstein, whose work has not been seen on the East Coast in some time.  "Einstein's gestural abstraction has a semiotic quality to it," notes Shapiro.  "It is a study of how meaning is created, not what is." Indeed, the artist calls himself "a mark maker," as much as a painter.  His work is influenced by Japanese calligraphy as well as Hebrew script.

Einstein's work can be found in numerous museums and private collections, including the Crocker Museum, the Albright Knox Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, and others.

"It's hard to write about next fall when there is snow on the ground!" says Shapiro.  "However our fall schedule will open with rock-and-roll photographer Steve Joester's punk reworking of some amazing scenes from Old Havana.  Stay tuned!"