Naomi Nemtzow's Urban Landscapes at the Bowery Gallery

The Bowery Gallery in Chelsea is currently presenting a series of recent works by Naomi Nemtzow for a show entitled Close to Home. Urban life is one of Nemtzow’s most common themes and for her eleventh solo show at the gallery, she unveils several drawings and paintings depicting daily life in her quiet, Brooklyn neighborhood.

Through her effective use of color and light, she conveys a sense of the time of day. For instance, Red Tree, Blue Sky offers the notion of a windy, Autumn day with the swirly brushstrokes of the light blue sky and the red leaves of a sidewalk tree whose branch is bent, leaning toward the street against some parked cars. On the other side of the sidewalk is a park with trees that have green and yellow leaves whose branches are leaning in the opposite direction of the red trees. With Red Tree, Gray Day, the viewer gets a sense of a cloudy, dreary afternoon with a gray sky, and trees whose leaves are leaning toward the ground of the sidewalk, casting their shadow.

Red Tree Blue Sky  by Naomi Nemtzow

Besides trees, Nemtzow uses other objects to capture the character of her neighborhood. With works like her two Windsor Place July paintings and her two Across the Street paintings, represent how the houses and trees on her block and neighboring blocks look in the summertime. Nemtzow also depicts the different aspects of 7th Avenue with works like 7th Avenue with Mailbox, with a communal mailbox on a street corner, 7^th Avenue with White Minivan, with a parked, white minivan, and 7^th Avenue with Garbage Cans featuring a group garbage cans outside resident’s homes.

7th Avenue with Mailbox by Naomi Nemtzow

In addition to her ode to the neighborhood she’s lived most of her life, 

Nemtzow also offers a painting inspired by Giovanni Bellini’s painting The Ecstasy of St. Francis (a.k.a. St. Francis of the Desert). Like the Italian Renaissance master, Nemtzow captures St. Francis of Assisi stepping out from his cave, into the sun, taking in his surroundings.

St. Francis lived under poor conditions in the beginning of his sainthood and used to participate in isolated spiritual retreats at monasteries. Both Bellini’s and Nemtzow’s depictions are perhaps the most symbolic portrayal of the saint with animals in the picture representing His love for nature and animals.

Study, Bellini's St. Francis No. 2 by Naomi Nemtzow

At the Bowery Gallery 530 W. 25th St., through May 19. The gallery is open Tue.-Sat. from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.