As the long, grey months of winter finally melt away, one longs for yellow daffodils, a warm breeze, and the sun’s triumphant return. The Anita Shapolsky Gallery’s summer exhibition, “Different Strokes”, seeks to fill this longing by bringing together six different artists whose works all capture the vibrancy of the season. Distinct, dynamic, colorful brushstrokes permeate each piece, but each artist uses different strokes to convey their own personal visual philosophies.

DENISE CARVALHO is a Brazilian-born artist who draws inspiration from various philosophies such as Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction, Carl Jung’s collective unconscious, Wassily Kandinsky’s concept of synesthesia, and El Lissitzki’s prouns. Her paintings attempt to expand geometric forms into visual codes beyond language, using concepts of excess and restriction, order and chaos. Carvalho participated in the Florence Biennale in 2000 and has had a solo exhibition at the Abney Gallery and the Jadite Gallery in New York City.

AMARANTH EHRENHALT is an extremely prolific second generation abstract expressionist. Although part of the New York School, she spent most of her career in Paris, where she met, socialized, and exhibited with artists such as Seymour Boardman, Joan Mitchell, Alberto Giacometti, and Sonia Delaunay. She has worked with a variety of media, producing paintings, sculpture, mosaics, ceramics, watercolors, tapestries, scarves, and prints. The titles of her paintings often refer to specific memories, which she expresses with dynamic, interactive, and bold brushstrokes. Ehrenhalt has taken part in multiple exhibitions at the Anita Shapolsky Gallery. She has had solo shows in Paris, New York, and Los Angeles and has pieces in collections at the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, the National Foundation of Contemporary Art in Paris, and the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C.

LORNA RITZ creates abstract paintings using seasonal color combinations that occur in natural landscapes coupled with the aesthetics of what she refers to as her own “internal landscape.” An improvisational artist, she responds to the rhythms, harmonies, synchronizations, and counterpoints that rise up during the creative process, letting the paint realize the emotion, spirit, soul, and memory found in these landscapes. Her recent solo exhibitions were held at the Brown Fine Arts Center, the Augusta Savage Gallery, and the Contemporary Art Museum at the University of Massachusetts.

CE ROSER transforms memories and emotions into a visual vocabulary she describes as “a surge of energy, peaks of color, a world of fluctuation and vicissitudes.” Her brushstrokes are varied - sometimes explosive, sometimes sweeping, sometimes delicate - creating a visual poetic adventure. She has exhibited internationally at numerous galleries and museums. Her work is included in collections at the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, and the Brooklyn Museum.

MARC VAN CAUWENBERGH is originally from a small city in Belgium, however, he now lives and works in New York City. His broad, dynamic brushstrokes and lush, bright colors reflect the shifting movements of bodies within the urban landscape. Van Cauwenbergh explores this urban chaos and the increasing fragmentation of human identity and communication in the contemporary world. As a bridge to his Flemish origins and sensibility, he uses Belgian linen almost exclusively. Van Cauwenbergh has exhibited internationally since 1984, with several one man shows in New York and Belgium.

ALISON WELD describes her paintings as metaphors for light: the light of the sun and the light of the mind. Her studio, located in a hayfield in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York, is flooded with light, which she captures to create an atmosphere of soulfulness, spirituality, and ethereality in her abstract paintings. Weld has shown at both the Anita Shapolsky Gallery and the A.S. Art Foundation, the Everson Museum of Art, the Jersey City Museum, the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, and many others.

The artists in “Different Strokes” are all mid-life and older. They have been exhibiting at various museums and galleries for years. Due to the growing abundance of art galleries, it has been difficult even for experienced artists to have full exposure in this competitive art market. The Anita Shapolsky Gallery is proud to present this vibrant exhibition as a continuation of our legacy as a space for the exposure of under-appreciated abstract artists.