 | There’s no finer way to disrupt what disturbs than a lovely day. An expansive view along the water’s edge, a forest hike over rich green moss, a blustery wind sweeping clouds across deep blue sky. To capture that light, that open feeling when human stress gives way to Mother Nature’s sensual beauty, we paired two artists whose paintings evoke just that: a welcomed reset. Returning gallery favorites Lizzie Butler of the United Kingdom and Jaroslav Leonets of Ukraine seduce us into the vistas themselves. Some of the land and waterscapes are stark, others are abstract. All beckon with elegant, understated color in mesmerizing form.
Leonets travels his country and often his memory to find landmark areas, bucolic and beautiful. He proudly wants us to see the stunning panoramas as much as he wants to wrap himself in them while Russia steps up its savage war. With jewel-toned hues and broad brush strokes, he jolts our news-infused brain away from Russia’ daily attacks to his immersive fields and forests on canvas. The vistas are rich, warm and voluminous. Indeed these works are more than memory, more than distraction. They are exquisite paintings imbued with exquisite resilience because Leonets has not left; he remains on his native land, doing what he is meant to do, documenting its great beauty. An award-winning artist highly prized in Ukraine, with residencies, public installations, and exhibitions, including Kyiv’s Contemporary Art Institute, he graduated from the Kharkiv Art College in easel painting and earned an MA in monumental painting at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture.
Lizzie Butler brings an evocative definition of space to all of her works with an irresistible pull from above. This seems to make sense, given that she spent her childhood under big skies in the expansive countryside of Lincolnshire, along England’s eastern coast. Grounded in figurative landscape oil painting and life drawing, Butler's important work is today expressive and semi-abstract. Her early London Fine Art Studio training commands that she start en plein air with a sketch, photograph or painting, before committing to larger scale. Absorbing nature’s sound and silence on site, Butler often finishes her pieces in oil, back in her London studio. Her work is an uncommon mix of boldness and precision. It’s easy to see the influence of a father Butler describes as “an architect who etched at every opportunity” and of her mother, a fashion designer and colorist. Butler’s depth of field and her linear hand convey light, silence, and energy. Lizzie Butler has exhibited abroad and at Leighton House Museum, Kensington, London, along with several London galleries. Butler is avidly collected in the US, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Europe.
Join us for the Opening on Thursday, April 9th, 6pm to 7:30pm at Amy Kaslow Gallery. To preview the exhibition, visit amykaslowgallery.com
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