Something fishy’s going on

The paintings of Michael Gambino

NARROWSBURG, NY — An exhibition of paintings by Michael Gambino will open at the Alliance Gallery on Friday, April 17, with an artist’s reception from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The exhibit will be on view through May 9.

Gambino is a renaissance man—photographer, musician, filmmaker and painter, not to mention an award-winning advertising designer. But recently, one scaly animal has caught his full attention. Since the beginning of 2008, Gambino has used the subject of koi fish in his oil paintings to explore possibilities of form, color and especially movement. He was originally inspired by this subject while witnessing feeding time by the Shinto Shrine at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

“Koi collected from their hidden depths, and from disparate hiding places, to form a swirling mass of rage, bubbling desire and fierce hunger,” said Gambino, who was born and raised in New York City and attended the High School of Art and Design. “The riot they produced embodied everything that Jackson Pollack and the Abstract Expressionists pursued—pure abstraction, unbridled emotion—a powerful visceral communication.”

The canvases, painted in his spacious second-floor studio in Yulan, range in size from 45 inches by 60 inches to as large as six by nine feet. Gambino describes his creative process as a “process of corrections,” where the first paint strokes are applied quickly, and then corrected through successive applications.

In October 2009, Gambino will have a solo exhibition of paintings, photographs, drawings, video and sculpture at the Post Mansion Gallery in New Orleans. He currently lives in Manhattan and Yulan with his wife Elaina and his son Jake.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For more information visit ArtsAllianceSite.org or call 845/252-7576.