JOY AND COMMUNION
Live performance collaboration (Classical Quintet): Frank Shifreen’s recent paintings have a joyous blast of color and intensity. He creates a semi-abstract composition that engages the eye as it travels through the painting. There is a light that infuses the images like stained glass. His images have references- they can be figures, landscapes, still life – they return to figuration no matter how far they have traveled before.
The paintings have a strong structural base, formed with geometry and cubist impulse. While not outwardly political, Shifreen believes that celebration and joy are antidotes to much of what ails us, socially and personally. There is a musicality to his paintings. They are rhythmic and the color can function as notes.
He will also exhibit this joy and communion in a live painting performance with musicians.
2021 Gallery
Part of the New York art community for 50 years!
Monument Redefined
Mr. Shifreen has had numerous solo exhibitions of his paintings. Sculpture, prints, photography, and video. He designed sets for the theater in off-Broadway productions. He has organized and curated exhibitions since the seminal Monumental show and Monument Redefined of 1981 and 1982. Many of his exhibitions have a political or social subtext.
Gowanus Memorial Artyard
As the director of the Gowanus Memorial Artyard, Mr. Shifreen sponsored an Environmental and Architectural competition of the Gowanus Canal, the first community organization to deal with this environmental disaster. He was one of the organizers of Art against Apartheid worldwide exhibition that and supported the Homesteader movement of the Lower East Side.
Live Painting Exhibitions
Frank Shifreen has performed live painting exhibitions for over 40 years. He has painted live in museums, galleries, schools, colleges, and nightclubs in the United States and Europe. Mr. Shifreen has painted portraits, landscapes as well improvisational abstractions during these performances.