Urban Rhythms

OPENING RECEPTION:
Sat. July 30 2pm-5pm
Anibal Aviles Playground
111 W 108th Street
bet. Amsterdam/Columbus Aves

Bernardo Palombo, Atu Ram And Early Rudolph

The city is a collage for all of the senses. Shapes, colors, sounds movements and textures pass by us (and us by them) as we sit, walk and play within our landscape.  These three artists share a long-term commitment to Northern Manhattan’s cityscape, yet with unique sensibilities. One can see how each uses color and texture to express that feeling in their respective works. They are examples for the the way that sounds can be expressed visually and how this can be an act full of wonder and play.

Bernardo Palombo is a teacher to children of all ages, a song writer, an artist and the Founder/Artistic Director of El Taller Latino Americano.  His creative drive revolves around the ethos that creativity can dispel fear and mistrust between individuals and groups, and further, that impromptu moments of creativity can be transcendent. This can be seen most in his painting practice that is based on his spontaneous use of media on different surfaces, his ability to make marks that create forms and the way that colors play to create form, depth and light.

Atu Ram was born in the Bronx and grew up in Harlem with parents from down south and the Caribbean. They taught him a love for nature while exposing him to the multicultural art of Harlem. These influences created
curiosity and guided him to develop an inner awareness. His works reference a myriad of multicultural gestures in a playful, organic manner that demonstrates his sensitivity to balance. In some works, one will appreciate his ease for creating abstraction out of common forms, illustrating these forms in novel ways that are surprising. In others, his approach to color is percussive, beautiful and meditative.

Early Rudolph began painting as a young man as a means to self expression. His works have a grounded sensibility in the midst of kaleidoscopes formed by patterns and color. A rhythmic tension between the solidity of line and the chaos of color makes the experience of city life stand-still on his canvases. His ode to New York City is in hand-drawn stately iconic buildings accompanied by explosions of color. One’s eye is drawn to a piece, just for a moment, before it is pulled away by impulse - just as the eye is commanded by the city itself.

This exhibition program of El Taller Latino Americano's Grady Alexis Gallery is supported in part by funds from the Department of Cultural Affairs and the City Council with further support by the Jacob and Ruth Epstein Foundation, the Columbus-Amsterdam BID, and The NYC Parks Department