Surreal Summer: Featuring work by Deborah Buck, Ron Ehrlich, Samantha French, Eugene Healy, Sandrine Kern, Gary Komarin, Kate Roebuck, Roohi Saleem, and Tom Wesselmann

Summer has arrived at MJFA, and it has been a surreal one so far!

We are welcoming the season with a group exhibition featuring new work by a selection of 9 contemporary artists.  While Surrealist principles directly influence the practice of Gary Komarin and Deborah Buck, the group, as a whole, are similarly inspired  in their expressive and intuitive artworks that capture the psyche of the summer season.  

Sandrine Kern's Water Lily Series features joyful, gestural interpretations of ponds with water lilies.  A separate and beloved series from previous works, her lyrical strokes and dramatic color palettes are free and figurative. Kern's practice combines oil sticks, oil paint, and cold wax to create a creamy, rich surface with subtle textured layers to portray the large-scale, zoomed-in water scenes. 

Women were a constant source of inspiration: Wesselmann’s most famous series, “Great American Nude” (1961–73), channels the brazen energy of American advertising and features flat, faceless female figures whom the artist often situated among stars and stripes. Educated at Cooper Union and the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Wesselmann got his start selling cartoons to magazines, newspapers, and ad agencies before he found success as a fine artist. Today, he’s represented in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, among other institutions.

Scarsdale artist, Roohi Saleem’s abstracted narratives on canvas are animated by her innate sensitivity and concern for human conditions and emotions. Her work is inspired by a constant search for tranquility, as she views painting as a form of 'emotional survival'. Throughout her career, Saleem has experimented with both acrylic and oil paints, ultimately landing on oil sticks. Growing up in Karachi, Pakistan- as well as living in Dubai, Muscat, and Los Angeles- has greatly impacted her work, most noticeably through her use of calming colors.