(NEW YORK) – The New York office of Hines, the international real estate firm, announces the opening of an important exhibition of large-scale paintings by Edvins Strautmanis in the Lobby Gallery at 499 Park Avenue in Manhattan.
The exhibition will run through December 30, 2010.
499 Park Avenue is a28-story, 304,035-square-foot building designed by architect I.M. Pei.
Hines, through its exhibition program, actively contributes to the cultural community as an expression of ongoing commitment to excellence in the visual arts and architecture, and has sponsored art exhibitions at this location for six years.
The current show is jointly curated by Elizabeth Sadoff of Elizabeth Sadoff and Associates and Dorothy Solomon of DSA Fine Arts. The exhibition catalogue written by renowned critic Judd Tully, offers the following observations about the artist and his work:
There’s a mythic quality about Edvins Strautmanis, both the man and his decidedly large-scale, brawny, gestural paintings…Strautmanis was too young to be included in the now re-blossoming Second Generation of the Abstract Expressionist/New York School… he was an Ab-Ex man by training and temperament… a freelance Action Painter. His career… included thirty solo exhibitions between 1963 and 1991, including four at the Allan Stone Gallery in New York, where the late gallerist also championed Willem de Kooning in the early 1960’s.
Honed as a painter in the brief heyday of Abstract Expressionism, before Pop Art obliterated that movement and made it instantly obsolescent, Strautmanis stubbornly admired the work and painterly philosophies of Willem de Kooning and Hans Hofmann. But in his heart of hearts, his passion for painting veered closer to Francisco Goya and Chaim Soutine…his large-scale paintings… resembled the aftermath of a spewing volcano, lamp black, goose-bumped and massive. You felt and witnessed the power of the stroke and nervously looked behind your shoulder to make sure you weren’t caught by another eruption.
Hines is a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide. The firm’s historical and current portfolio of projects that are underway, completed, acquired and managed for third parties includes 1,111 properties representing more than 451 million square feet of office, residential, mixed-use, industrial, hotel, medical and sports facilities, as well as large, master-planned communities and land developments. With offices in more than 100 cities in 17 countries, and controlled assets valued at approximately $22.2 billion, Hines is one of the largest real estate organizations in the world. Hines is also a world leader in sustainable real estate strategies, with extensive experience in the LEED®, ENERGY STAR®, BREEAM, Haute Qualité Environnementale and DGNB green building rating systems. Visit www.hines.com for more information.
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