REVIEWS

http://tbrnewsmedia.com/abstract-art-takes-center-stage-in-new-show-at-the-art-league- of-long-island/

http://hamptonsarthub.com/2017/04/03/reviews-art-review-abstraction-across- generations-through-artists-on-long-island/?platform=hootsuite

http://theislandnow.com/dining_entertainment-105/island-today-local-abstractions- spotlight/

About the Artist


Peter Galasso is a painter of large gestural abstracts. His current work is an exploration of feeling, memory and a unique vision laid out on canvas in a style which is both original and surprising and offers a fresh, new look at color and form. As far as influence, he is especially drawn to the American Abstract Expressionists, such as De Kooning, Pollock, Krasner and Rothko who lived and worked in the 1950’s here on Long Island.

Peter has won awards at numerous juried exhibitions and group shows throughout Long Island. He has shown his work twice at the Nassau County Museum of Art. Other recent exhibits include the Heckscher Museum’s 48th Long Island Artist’s Exhibition and a solo exhibitions at the Alfred Van Loen Gallery and Ripe Art Gallery, both in Huntington, New York.

Peter was born in Brooklyn, New York and currently resides in Strong’s Neck, Long Island. He formerly studied the figure with renowned Long Island artist, Betty Holliday. He also studied abstract art with Stan Brodsky at the Art League of Long Island.

Long Island Pulse, August 15, 2016 "In the Abstract" at Gallery North


In the Abstract
VISUAL ARTS drew moss | AUGUST 15, 2016
http://www.lipulse.com/2016/08/15/in-the-abstract/

An abstract painting finds its meaning, its creative thrust, in the eye of the observer. Art Bernstein, Sue Contessa, Peter Galasso and Aida Izadpanah, the four artists featured in Gallery North’s “In the Abstract,” have created abstract art that fully manifests the notion of spectatorship and “passive participation.” The works of speak to the journey as much as to the result. They ruminate rather than dictate, leaving plenty of space for the viewer to step into the colors, lines, gestures and forms that intertwine to create that ever elusive meta-reality–mood.

But with so little to latch on to as concrete, what makes abstract art work? It’s an intriguing, difficult question to answer.

“One of the responsibilities of an artist is to render a thought, a feeling, a place, an object, or a combination in an aesthetically pleasing manner,” said Judith Levy, directory at Gallery North. “While some abstract art might look completely thoughtless and impulsive, the best works are done with deliberation, a clear, powerful feeling within the artist’s mind.”

But each artist’s deliberations are unique and hidden by their personalities, which obscures their intentions and leaves room for ambiguity.

Take Peter Galasso’s Unimagined (2016, acrylic on canvas), a large canvas awash in deep oceanic color and loose form that invites interpretation. Rich, thick navy blues form the depth of field as the scrapes, pulls, twists and turns of yellow and red create traces of existential ephemera. The sense of muted whimsy in the scraping and stroking, as well as the tendency to work sparingly and modestly, evokes Stan Brodsky, under whom Galasso studied at The Art League of Long Island. Like Brodsky, Galasso seems to be creating mood, inviting memory and expressing that mysterious space between the two.

“(My work) offers a visualization of energy, motion and emotion,” said Galasso. “(It) encourages the viewer to trace his or her movements and perhaps recognize in the work some inner truths which may be common to us all.”