2c Goodrich.jpg

John Goodrich, “Two Trees, Central Park,” 2002, oil on board, 10 by 13½ inches

MUST RUN 6/27

‘PAINTING IN THE PARK’ WILL OPEN JULY 1 AT LORI BOOKSTEIN FINE ART, w/1 cut

avv/gs set 6/19 #743069

NEW YORK CITY — Lori Bookstein Fine Art will present “Painting in the Park,” on view July 1–August 1, a celebration of New York City’s most valuable assets — its numerous parks — and the painters who have immortalized them over the course of the last century.

A number of the painters in this exhibition — Gifford Beak, Nell Blaine, John Heliker, Jane Peterson and Maurice Prendergast — qualify as American masters, but most of the participating artists are contemporary. They are modern residents of the city who continue to draw inspiration from the city’s islands of greenery and open space. A portion of the proceeds from this exhibition will benefit Asphalt Green’s Summer Day Camp Scholarship Program.

Landscape painting has traditionally investigated the effects of weather, light and space. The “marriage of earth and sky,” of course, takes on an entirely new cast when the backdrop consists of walls of buildings instead of open sky.

On one level, the works in “Painting in the Park” are explorations of nature accommodating, and accommodated by, the peculiar energy of the modern urban environment. This mirrors the dual motives of the painters themselves, who pursue the traditional allures of nature while residing and working in the electronic age.

Many of the paintings depict Central Park, but the exhibition also includes scenes of Madison Square Park, Governors Island, Riverside Park and Red Hook Park, as well as aerial views of Battery Park, Union Square, Tompkins Square and Randall’s island. The artists’ approaches range from faithful realism to expressionistic forays and stylized interpretations.

The contemporary artists in the exhibition include Violet Baxter, John Dubrow, Richard Chiriani, Catherine Drabkin, Phyllis Floyd, John Goodrich, Carolyn Harris, Su-Li Hung, Diana Horowitz, Gael Mooney, Penny Kronengold, Richard La Presti, Elizabeth O’Reilly, Kamilla Talbot and Trevor Winkfield.

Lori Bookstein Fine Art is at 37 West 57th Street, Third Floor. For more information, www.loribooksteinfineart.com or 212-750-9949.