Please join us for the opening of our newest exhibit featuring a selection of artwork by Leonard Rosenfeld and Konstantin Bokov--two esteemed New York artists, who have gained acclaim both locally and abroad.  Through their talent, humour and unique world-views, the artists capture the nuances of New York City life as well as pose questions about contemporary realities.  Rosenfeld's 1957 Brooklyn Railroad Tracks drawings are amongst the highlights of the show, alongside Bokov's exquisite oil paintings and recycled pieces.

From 6-9 pm on Thursday July 30th, 2009, we invite you to have the first viewing of the exceptional art comprising the show, as well as to meet the artists, network with fellow artists and art enthusiasts, and enjoy a glass of wine and light nibbles!  The show will run through August 28th, 2009.

Leonard Rosenfeld

Leonard Rosenfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1926 and has been painting for 50 years. Describing himself as an expressionist, Rosenfeld says he “paints with a weird combination of abandon and discipline.”

After serving in WWII, Rosenfeld studied painting, sculpture and drawing at the Art Students League of New York.  By the early 1950s, he was ensconced in the Cedar Bar, the abstract expressionists’ hang-out in Greenwich Village. Clement Greenberg, Willem DeKooning and Allen Ginsberg frequented The Cedar, as did other abstract expressionists, art critics and beatniks.

In 1957, Rosenfeld produced his “Railroad Drawings”.  In the early 1980s, he exhibited his “rag paintings” in Soho at Ivan Karp’s OK Harris Gallery on West Broadway (a.k.a the “supermarket”).  Most of the 1980s were devoted to his favorite work – “wire paintings.”   Other painting series followed: “Graffiti”, “Nuts and Bolts”, and “Angels”.  During 2004-2007, he painted soldiers at war, including a portrait of General David Petraeus.  
 

Konstantin Bokov

Ukranian born Konstantin Bokov began his career as an accordian player and sheep-herder.  After seeing a Van Gogh painting in Moscow, however, the young Bokov decided to put down his instruments in favour of a paint brush.  Entirely self-taught, Bokov has since showed around the U.S. and world, including in New York (most recently at the NYC 2009 Outsider Art Fair), San Francisco, Holland, Vienna, Paris and Japan.

In both his life and art Bokov has found himself acting the mediator between cultures and art movements. A painter, junk artist and collagist, Bokov makes the recycling of cultural and industrial waste the central theme of his work.  Bokov’s paintings employ the language of impressionism while disrupting the laws of classical depiction in unexpected ways.

After the ideologically unreliable artist was exelled from the Soviet Union over 30 years ago, Bokov found residence in Washinigton Heights in New York City.  Through their unique verbal and visual syntax, Bokov’s canvases and recycled pieces offer an image of New York that is both a scathing critique and profession of love.