Serene And Sublime Worldly Vistas Presented in “Grandscapes” at Alex Ferrone Gallery

Alex Ferrone Gallery in Cutchogue closes the summer season with magnificent vistas from far away places in their new Grandscapes Exhibition. Presented are luminous paintings by noted artist Adam Straus along with stunning photographs by multidisciplinary artist Ennid Berger and international photographer David Magee, all works paying homage to beautiful distant lands. Celebrate the exhibition with the artists at a free public reception in the Gallery on Saturday, September 7 from 6-8pm. A Luncheon Gallery Talk with the artists will be held Sunday, September 15 from 12 - 2pm. "Grandscapes" runs now through September 29, 2019.

Painter Adam Straus leads viewers away from the daily barrage of stimuli with his serene interpretations of majestic landscapes. Inspired by the Luminist artists and the Hudson River School, Straus' desire to simply represent the sublime beauty of the natural world is present in his paintings. Straus' focuses on light, atmosphere, quiet and beauty of particular vistas in two of his glacial and alpine mountain works in the exhibit.  In contrast, both works are framed in heavy sheet lead, which Straus feels can be both toxic and protective, revealing his commentary on man's presence in, and impact on, nature.

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Irish photographer David Magee brings stunning images of salt-stained treacherous rocks and silky blue-grey waters between cliffs of West Cork, Ireland. Magee is exhibiting additional dramatic black and white rock formations naturally abstracted with animated moonlit reflections from coastal Greece, along with hypnotic seascapes from Key West that feature pastel light, streaming cloud formations, and churning greens and blues.

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Ennid Berger's expansive scenes from Scottish Highlands and immense images of Japan's Mount Fuji round out the Grandscapes exhibition. Ennid has captured the extraordinary tranquility and aesthetics of her journeys and presents moments of beauty for the viewer. While she found these scenes equally compelling in full color, Ennid has converted her images for her alluring black and white prints, finding the contrast and clarity that transcends the ordinary, more commanding than in color.

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Alex Ferrone Gallery is at 25425 Main Road, Cutchogue.  Hours are 12-5pm Friday through Monday, or by appointment other days.  Visit AlexFerroneGallery.com or call 631-734-8545 for more info.

To read more about the artists, continue scrolling.

Ennid Berger (Glen Head)

An award-winning photographer and painter referred to by Newsday as a "distinguished Long Island artist", Ennid Berger is interested in the intersection between the two mediums in her artistic practice. Ennid studied photography at the International Center of Photography in New York (ICP), and painting and conceptual art with renowned contemporary New York painters Robert Yasuda, Paul Pagk, Betty Holliday and Stan Brodsky.

Her processes include digital and darkroom photography, drawing, painting, photographic experimentation and mixed media assemblage. Ennid has exhibited extensively in solo and group shows in New York City, Key West, and at venues throughout Long Island including The Parrish Art Museum, Islip Museum of Art and The Heckscher Museum of Art, where her photograph, "Construction Singapore," was awarded Best in Show at the Long Island Biennial. Additional accolades include awards from Guild Hall of East Hampton, NY, New York State Special Opportunity Stipend, and from National Association of Women Artists.

David Magee (Cork, Ireland)

Born and raised in Cork, Ireland, award-winning photographer David Magee studied fine art at Crawford Municipal School of Art and attended Glasgow School of Art & Design where he studied under American fine art landscape photographer, Thomas Joshua Cooper.

Magee considers his works to be emotional experiences and enjoys the entire process of creating his photographs. Earth, water, and air are the recurring elements with which Magee prefers to work. His aim is to provide an antidote to the excess, over-branding, and mass production in everyday life, by offering the viewer a point in time to reflect and be drawn into a world of oneness, contemplation and tranquility of the landscape and the spirituality of nature. Composition and the combination of light, tone, movement and the passage of time used through extended exposures reveal such atmosphere in his photographs.

David Magee's photographs have been shown widely in international exhibitions including in England, Ireland, the Unites States, Russia, Greece, and Japan and his works are held in both private and international collections. His works have received prestigious awards including from The Paris Photography Prize (PX3), International Photography Awards (IPA), Moscow International Foto Awards, and Tokyo International Foto Awards, among others.

Adam Straus (Riverhead, NY)

Originally from Miami Beach, FL, Adam Straus' passion for art first developed with photography in the late '70s while studying under Jerry Uelsmann and Evon Streetman at the University of Florida where he received his B.S. in Mathematics. He went on to achieve his MFA form Florida State University in Tallahassee.

The content of his work has always been inspired by current events and Straus has been using the traditions of landscape painting as arenas for comments on contemporary man's presence in nature, as well as critiques on our social landscape. Influences vary from Casper David Friedrich to Claude Monet, from Mark Rothko to Vija Celmins and Gerhard Richter. Straus enjoys working in scales that range from just a few inches up to seven feet, and on various materials including canvas, jute, lead, brass leaf, newspaper, paper and wood.

Since moving to New York City in 1990, Adam Straus' works have been widely presented in one-person and group exhibits nationally and internationally including at Nohra Haime Gallery and Adelson Galleries in New York City; Vero Beach Museum, FL; Espace Ecureuil, Marseille, France; Alfred Wild Gallery, Bogota, Colombia; and Butler Art Institute, Howland, OH, among many other galleries and venues.

In 2003, after some time in New York City, Straus moved to Riverhead on the east end of Long Island where he currently resides. He increasingly sees a desire to simply represent the sublime beauty of the natural world, and focuses on the light, atmosphere, quiet, and beauty of certain places. Straus' goal is to embody everything he paints with a passion for the natural world. His belief is that, "How we treat the environment and learn to live within nature in a more balanced way, is the most crucial issue of our time."

Straus' works are held in public collections including The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, NY; Guild Hall of East Hampton, NY; Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown, MA; and Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, OH; among many others. Corporate collections include American Express, Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA, Geneva, Switzerland, and Houston Power and Light, Houston, TX, among others.

Selected writings on his work include a monograph spanning 30 years of his art that features an introduction by art critic Amei Wallach, along with numerous reviews and articles in publications including The New York Times, ArtNews, The New Yorker, and Fine Art Connoisseur, among others.

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