“Places I Have Left Pieces of Myself”

Freda Lee-McCann and Elena Stamberg
Opening Reception, Saturday March 24, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Music by Bud Wilkinson and guests 
@
Adah Rose Gallery 
3766 Howard Ave

Kensington Md, 20895
www.adahrosegallery.com
 
Freda Lee-McCann
All traditional Chinese art flows from the desire to depict imaginary landscapes which reflect the inner longings of the artist’s heart and mind.  The beauty of the brushstroke is married with the rigorous discipline of an art form that is thousands of years old.  Freda Lee-McCann’s work relies on the vocabulary of classical Chinese painters fused with the influence of modernists such as Brice Marden, David Hockney, and Robert Rauschenberg.  Ms. Lee-McCann’s work uses the simplicity of her materials to convey a meditative journey into vast landscapes on an intimate scale.  By limiting her palette primarily to black ink underscored by minimal intrusions of watercolor, collage, and calligraphy, she explores the contemporary themes of abstraction in nature.

Elena Stamberg
The fragility and beauty of the imagined landscapes of Elena Stamberg are expressed by the delicate and perfect balance between layers of fabric, color and thread.  Each landscape is an exposed tapestry, meant to elicit the desire to touch and become intimate with the work.  Ms Stamberg is influenced by a strong sense of craft and reverence for the traditional handiwork of women akin to contemporary artists such as Tracey Emin and Judy Chicago.  Ms. Stamberg is personally influenced by the rich, decorative and textural surfaces in the works of Gustave Klimt, the simplicity of a drawing by Paul Klee, and the idiosyncratic humor of Joseph Cornell’s boxes. Using techniques as simple as connecting one line with another, Ms. Stamberg’s wondrous pieces expose the whimsicality that informs life with its unexpected, unusual and delicious moments.