Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition featuring contemporary landscape paintings and drawings. Immortalized in the 1800s by painters in the Hudson River School, the Hudson River Valley has been a rich source of inspiring forests, mountains, and vistas for artists. Point of view is the position from which something is observed; it is also the voice in which a story is told. The three artists in this show live and work in the region and continue this rich legacy. Their artwork tells the story of unique observation, impression, and interpretation.

Andrea Kantrowitz presents a new series of large-scale ink and brush artworks on Mylar. Hovering on the threshold between drawing and painting, they capture the forest’s intricate forms—twisting branches, layered foliage, vernal pools, and light filtering through the canopy above. Rather than literal representations, these pieces, six and seven feet tall, convey the immersive experience of being “among the trees,” as the poet Mary Oliver once wrote. The fluidity of ink captures both serenity and complexity, drawing viewers into the detailed, dense world of the forest.

Kantrowitz’s art evokes the meditative state of being “lost in the woods,” inspired by the Japanese practice of Shinrin-Yoku, or “forest bathing.” As the images slowly come into focus for the viewer, the experience echoes the process of attuning to the hidden rhythms of the woodland. Her work translates the overwhelming density and richness of the natural world into a visual language that encourages contemplation, asking viewers to connect deeply with the environment and their own sense of presence within it.

Andrea Kantrowitz’s work has been exhibited throughout the world and is in many public and private collections. Her research has been widely published and she is a sought-after educator and speaker. Kantrowitz earned her Ed.D from Columbia University Teachers College, she holds a BA in Art and Cognition from Harvard University and an MFA in Painting from Yale. She is the Director of the Art Education Program at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She has been represented by the gallery since 2005. Kantrowitz lives, hikes, draws, and paints in the Hudson Valley, NY.

David Konigsberg, an inveterate hiker, depends on the natural world for the captured and imagined drama in his paintings. Living in the upper Hudson Valley, which is still rural and agricultural, the artist is surrounded by mountains laced with foot trails; it is an ideal location for a painter whose compositions are a testament to the sweetness of lingering recollections and the introspective journeys they inspire. David Konigsberg’s work bridges the divide between art and real life in paintings that are both objective and conceptual and are a meditation on life and creativity.

David Konigsberg’s paintings focus on the places where nature and humanity meet. Konigsberg’s works bridge the divide between art and real life in semi-narrative paintings that are both objective and conceptual. His work occupies a netherworld of image and memory in his very personal narratives, which are not meant to be deciphered but experienced as emotional possibilities.

Konigsberg’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States and has been featured in the New York Times, Chronogram, Wall Street International, and Brooklyn Journal, as well as numerous art and culture blogs. Konigsberg has been represented by the gallery since 2007. The artist lives and works in Hudson, New York.

The paintings of Thomas Sarrantonio seek to mediate between realms of external perception and internal reflection. They present themselves as meditations on nature and self. Choosing humble, often overlooked subject matter such as a lone tree or the morning fog, he attempts to translate the dynamic processes of nature into the stasis of physical matter on a painted surface. Small oil paintings are produced directly from nature while large paintings are studio productions that utilize memory, experience, imagination and conceptual ideas to negotiate the terrain of contemporary painting. The paintings are offered to the viewer as templates to provoke active participation in the process of seeing and quiet contemplation of the act of consciousness.

Thomas Sarrantonio’s paintings have been exhibited widely and he is the recipient of numerous honors including a Pollock-Krasner Award and a Visiting Artist Residency in Normandy, France. Sarrantonio holds degrees in Biology and English. He studied Painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, where his teachers included Will Barnet and Sidney Goodman. He lives and works in Rosendale, NY.

Please contact Lani Holloway, Associate Director, [email protected], 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.