D.Colabella Fine Arts Gallery presents…

COLOR & COMFORT Closing Reception

Tuesday, January 9^th, 2024

January 2, 2024 (RIDGEFIELD, CT) – D.Colabella Fine Arts is having its first closing reception for our current show, Color & Comfort featuring Lily Fertik and Eric Ross at D.Colabella Fine Arts Gallery in Ridgefield, CT.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

LILY FERTIK

Lily Fertik is a contemporary artist, born in New York City, New York. She studied commercial art/advertising at Ft. Lauderdale College, then followed the path of her first love, Claude Monet, to develop more fully as a visual artist. Her original works were in mixed media and from there, her paintings evolved. Having come from a long line of artists, art collectors and creatives, her appreciation of the bounty that is at the heart of an artist’s life has given her the courage to pursue her craft, despite challenges along the way. She currently lives north of the city where she generously offers her creative talent and energy to enhance the community of Ridgefield, CT.

Lily is a talented expressionist whose artistic style articulates the paradox of all that is both certain and uncertain. The contrast between what is complicated and what is clear and simple is beautifully framed in her images. In the Portal series, she shows the expansive beauty of color and contrast, while powerfully offering the chance to become grounded in her simple, clear, and calm use of basic colors. Through sight and sensibility, we are both transported and rooted at the same time. It is the great gift her paintings bring to the viewer.

Lily’s works naturally transpose emotional experience into visual form through the use of color, movement and medium. She incorporates different materials in her paintings to create context and contour and to express the energy of hope; moving one beyond current time and space. Lily works intuitively and expressively from a place of trained standards, while at the same time pushing past limitations, inviting freedom and potentiality.

ERIC ROSS

Starting in the 1990's Ross worked figuratively, painting architectural objects including bridges, racks, ladders, windows, and chairs. He strived to break down representative forms into quick, rudimentary brushstrokes and simplified forms using a rich color palette, thick visceral and "painterly" strokes, and negative/positive space to depict three-dimensional spaces.

From the 2000's onward Ross continued using simplified forms and palettes and further developed atmospheric effects with varied styles within works; at this point he began his exclusive focus on chairs as representative objects in space. He also developed an increasing suggestive and gestural style combined with thick, expressive tones.

The chair is an important symbol for these works. The paintings are often referred to as abstract "portraits" of chairs, expressing implied emotional and character representation. Non-physical and radically distorted abstract representations of ambiguous space underlie all of his work.

ABOUT D.COLABELLA FINE ART GALLERY

D.Colabella Fine Art is the latest addition to the flourishing art scene in Ridgefield, CT by owner and gallerist Dee Dee Perrone Colabella. The core focus is on exhibiting and connecting emerging and mid-career artists with collectors both new and seasoned. In addition to selling fine art in a traditional gallery setting, Colabella offers fine art advisory services. Visit www.dcolabellafineart.com for more information.