This past Thursday evening around 5 pm, a crowd of artists and art-loving visitors had gathered at Agora Gallery in advance of the opening reception for three exhibitions, Illumination: An Exhibition of Fine Art Photography, The Kaleidoscope of the Mind, and Contemporary Perspectives.
During her opening remarks, Gallery Director Angela Di Bello congratulated the artists for their role in inspiring the world through their creations. “There is no greater feeling than sharing your life,” she noted. “The experience of allowing people into your life is a wonderful feeling. Art can be an artist’s way of saying, ‘This is who I am and what I do. What I think. How I feel.’”
Illumination: An Exhibition of Fine Art Photography is a biannual exhibition that brings together artists from around the world who share a passion and talent for using the camera to capture a moment in time.
Always a photographer – Claude MacBurnie snaps a photo of guests on Thursday evening
On Thursday evening, visitors were treated to the stories of avid travelers like Barry Heyman, and Claude MacBurnie, a balloon enthusiast. As visitors walked through the gallery, they were introduced to unknown worlds told as visual stories – stories that evoked a sense of belonging, recognition, or awe.
Barry Heyman and his photograph St. Croix Tarpon
Laurent Moreau’s Prayer Flags in Nepal allowed viewers to breathe into a moment when the world seems completely still and the reception seemed to cease to exist.
Laurent Moreau shares a laugh with a gallery visitor
Gerald Shonkwiler’s Light Fair broke us away from the silence and threw us into a whirlwind of color and movement, leaving us dizzy, wanting more.
A visitor pauses to admire photographs by Gerald Shonkwiler
Questions of how and where buzzed throughout the room and the artists were happy to answer all that they could. Even when the lights began to dim and the night came to a close, visitors were reluctant to pull themselves away from the fascinating photographs covering the walls.
Gaby Grobo poses near one of her “imaginary landscapes”
According to Gaby Grobo, one of the artists featured in The Kaleidoscope of the Mind, “an artwork is completed by feedback. I want viewers to feel emotion. This is an important reaction,” she said. In Gaby’s vibrant acrylic paintings, which she calls “imaginary landscapes,” trees are symbols of who we are as individuals. In her paintings sometimes there is one tree, and sometimes there are many. In one of her latest pieces, On the Tender Carpet Sown, several trees dot the canvas, their roots visible below the horizon line to symbolize our own roots – where we are from and how we grew.
Sarah Arensi speaking with guests about her large-scale paintings
Artist Sarah Arensi traveled to New York from Italy for the opening reception. “I paint energies,” Sarah says about her large, vibrantly colored canvases that swirl and pulsate with varying pigments, acrylic, glitter, and gold leaf. Of the two paintings on show, “both are on the theme of love – both spiritual and universal love,” the artist explains. Sarah has been inspired in New York by its “energetic” pulse, which she has experienced while walking in Central Park, down Broadway and all along Riverside Park. “Surely I will go back to Italy with a lot of material,” she says.
Illumination: An Exhibition of Fine Art Photography and The Kaleidoscope of the Mind will be on view through May 14, 2015. Contemporary Perspectives will be on view through May 7, 2015. Agora Gallery is open from 11 am – 6 pm, Tuesday through Saturday, and we would love to welcome you to our location! Not able to make it to New York? Please subscribe to our mailing list and follow us on Facebook.
