The Endless Summer of Color at Art Up Gallery

Tumultuous by Jerry Gallo

Barbara Herzfeld and Jerry Gallo showing at Art Up 

MARGARETVILLE — Art Up Gallery in Margaretville is an art space that continues to spread roots deeper into the local art scene. Now in its second year, with a growing quality of art on display, the current show of two talented artists brighten up our summer with an exhibition full of radiant color and delightful design. Barbara Herzfeld offers up an intriguing body of figure paintings; exquisite impressionist pieces of embracing studies. Jerry Gallo delivers with the bursting colors and elements of nature-influenced abstract imagery. Art Up curators are confident the works in this show, that combine Gallo’s marvelous skill set together with Herzfeld’s richly colored paintings, are sure to stop fascinated viewers in their tracks, as observed of patrons at the opening reception this past Friday.

Herzfeld is a self-taught painter who attended Washington University in St. Louis, and studied drawing, design, and ceramics. She dreamt of being a painter, but instead became a painting textile designer, which developed her eye for color and facility with a brush. About ten years ago, she began painting Sumo wrestlers. Over time, her work evolved to include everyday women and men.

During the pandemic, Barbara took a drawing marathon with The NY Studio School (NYC) and fell in love with drawing all over again. Now, art is a more powerful, emotional journey, as she draws weekly from the model. Recently she has been spending time in the high desert of Oregon, where she became infatuated with the figure-like quality of the trees. Barbara resides in the Hudson Valley of New York State.

Herzfeld’s interpretation of the wrestlers can easily be seen as an embrace of two full figured friends who possibly were reunited after not seeing each other for a period. The evolution of Herzfeld’s work is a celebration of humanity highlighted by a well-trained eye for color that can magically combine muted tones with vivid hues in a sensual, playful harmony.Jerry Gallo grew up the NYC area of Greenpoint/Williamsburg Brooklyn in a culturally segregated area surrounded by family in a predominately Italian neighborhood. He had a natural gift for art and was accepted into the NYC High School Art and Design program. Gallo grew weary of attending school by the middle of his sophomore year. He and his teenage friends rented a storefront and turned it into a social club. 

This challenging time of his life was concluded when his father and someone from the high school walked through the club doors and told him to finish school. So Gallo attended summer and night school to make up for lost time, and still graduated with his class despite his year off. He recalls being in a bookstore owned by the father of Miles Bellamy (owner of Diamond Hollow Bookstore in Andes) in the city and being inspired by a series of Larry Poons paintings that were on display. A common tradition with many families of Italian heritage is to send their children to Italy upon graduating high school. Gallo didn’t have the funds for this but was accepted to an art residency for three weeks in Canada, “Attending BANFF in Canada was a major turning point in my life.”

After finishing high school, Gallo was able to get into Parsons School of Design through the Higher Educational Opportunities Program. After four years at Parsons, Gallo describes his life, “I moved in with my sister. I’d paint the scenes of people on the street across from where I was living, people on break from the factory. It was a more realistic style.” He ended up working as a cashier at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA). It was at MOMA that Gallo met his wife. He began listening to jazz music, which played a significant role in experimenting in abstract art. He discovered elements of jazz music helped him to dissect photographs and rearrange the pieces in a side-by-side manner. He began painting over abstract photography, the first steps leading to where his art is today. 

While at MOMA, Gallo met several very influential artists such as Jill Slaymaker, with whom he just recently rekindled a friendship. When Gallo was a young husband and father, he had to make adult choices, so he settled into a career that would support his family. He went to work for an insurance brokerage house. Gallo jokingly recalls, “I didn’t see myself working in this field of work. It reminds of the Woody Allen movie (Take the Money and Run) where he’s locked in a hole in the ground and forced to serve a sentence with an insurance agent.” At this time, Gallo says his practice as an artist waned. 

Eventually, he rented a house in Long Island where he would pick up painting, once again. Soon after, Gallo got bored of landscapes and decided to stay loyal to abstract work. He moved to Yonkers where he was able to have an affordable painting studio while developing his skills. In 2002, Gallo and his wife purchased a second home in Shandaken. At first it was a weekend retreat from the city, but now is his full-time residence. Gallo’s brilliantly colored abstract pieces at Art Up depict designs of wood grain, topography and other aspects of mountain life, “Living up here for over twenty years has had an influence on me and my art.” The painting ‘Tumultuous’ is a beautifully colored and designed work of earthy tones mixed with greens, yellows, and blues, despite the fact that the the piece’s backstory brings to mind a difficult time in the artist’s life. There are several other works that are a combination of two separate abstract styles juxtaposed on the same canvas. Gallo explains the reasoning, “These pieces are the duality of aspects of my life, as in parts of my growing up with my parents, as well as my feelings about working in the insurance industry that were in conflict with each other.”

Art Up will have this exhibition up throughout the summer until September 1, 2024. For more information see @artupmargaretville and @jerrygalloartist – in profiles there are links to their websites.