[New York] Lyons Wier Gallery is pleased to present our second group summer show,"Converging Landscapes," featuring artists Jose Anico, Steve Cope, Valeri Larko, Peter Roux and Mark Zimmermann. The exhibition addresses how contemporary artists use the landscape as their muse. Their painting techniques range from plein air to abstraction and exemplifies how contemporary artists are using the landscape as inspiration.
Jose Anico paints the landscape almost verbatim. Capturing the marshy view from New Jersey and New York City, the work has a shared spirit with Dutch Landscape painting. Anico's dirt roads and open vistas feel as if they could have been painted centuries ago if it was not for the detritus material and power lines that pepper the landscape calling attention to present-day environmental concerns.
Valeri Larko's painting practice employs traditional plein air principles of observation but is literally using the graffitied landscape of the Bronx as her inspiration. Larko uses her artistic license to subtly change the narrative, commenting on a different type of converging landscape whereby the walls and buildings before her are the canvases of others.
Steve Cope paints intimately scaled scenes of great vistas. The crux of Cope's compositions is the juxtaposition and combination of dissimilar or disparate landscapes. By visually weaving these discordant nature panoramas, he creates a beautiful narrative that is both inviting yet disconcerting.
Peter Roux combines principles of landscape and abstract painting. His cloud paintings oscillate between representational and non-objective painting by rendering recognizable cloud forms that fold into automatic mark making. Roux's beautiful execution forces the viewer to reconsider their understanding of both techniques and wonderfully illustrates how the landscape converges with abstraction.
Mark Zimmermann's work, in its simplest form, could be considered geometric abstraction. Zimmermann clearly demonstrates his deftness of hand though labored bands of color, building and editing one band upon other, until the editing process renders compositions that are one part hard-edge and one part action painter abstraction. However, with a little bit of imagination, one can clearly establish a horizon line. One step beyond Peter Roux, Zimmermann transforms his seemingly nonobjective abstract compositions into a landscape, capturing that critical moment when abstraction slips into realism and vice versa.

Opening Reception : Thursday, July 28th, 6-8pm

mpefm USA art press release