Hersh Fine Art, of the Long Island Academy of Fine Art, will present a group exhibition of drawings and paintings by Cornelia Hernes, Stephen Bauman and Steve Forster. The exhibition will be on view from Sept. 19 to Nov. 30 and the artists will be present for an opening reception on Saturday, Sept. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m.
This exhibition reunites three graduates of the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. Studying together more than 10 years ago at this prestigious institution, each artist brings his and her own unique vision and experience in this show. Hernes and Bauman currently reside in Sweden as principle instructors at the Gothenburg branch of the Florence Academy of Art. Forster, a resident of Glen Cove, is director of the Long Island Academy of Fine Art, where he also teaches.
Hernes’ still-life paintings are a clear and transformative view of the objects she holds and touches. In an age of speed and efficiency, Hernes invites the viewer to pause and observe the things with which she interacts and to consider the beauty to be found there. Rarely is such a love and care for objects so finely reproduced in oil paint, but more distinctly, it is unusual to see still life paintings that capture life and time within their quiet, self-contained spaces. Rather than stopping time and preserving her subjects in a single stiff moment, the viewer sees the slow passing of the minutes; the roses seem to shift as gravity slowly pulls them down, and their petals seem to loosen. The incense fades and reappears with the subtle currents of the air.
Bauman melds form and atmosphere to illuminate the connection between the physical and spiritual. His respect for life and the human form are easily seen in his figurative work and his drawings are an homage to the craft itself, offering an observable dialog between the artist’s mind and hand. Bauman’s watercolors show a spontaneity and immediacy that is distinct from his drawings and oil paintings, whereas the oil paintings show the controlled and articulate execution of sophisticated emotion.
In his series of landscape paintings, Forster brings together a poetic vision of Long Island that draws from a Romantic tenor and sense of story. Deliberately and imaginatively composed, the paintings may be more accurately described as narratives than landscape renderings. The trees take on human-like gesture and form; posed in an interplay with each other, the light and surrounding elements, they suggest an underlying story that may not immediately be perceived. As a director carefully places actors on a stage for visual impact and nonverbal storytelling, Forster uses depth and atmosphere to establish relationships and mood within his narrative landscapes.
For details refer to www.hershfineart.com or contact Rebecca Forster at 516-590-4324 or info@liafa.com.
