Gallery juxtaposes work by local artists

Church and state have come together at the Pangburn Gallery in Altamont as it hosts an exhibition of works by two local artists: Kara Nigro and Hy Rosen.

The gallery features her messages about love, inspired by Scripture, in contrast to his pen-and-ink political sketches, newspaper cartoons and some self-portraits of the past 40 years.

"Kara's work and mine are a juxtaposition really," Mr. Rosen told The Evangelist. "I knew that if we combined our art, it would make a very interesting and powerful showing."

God on canvas

Ms. Nigro, a Catholic, has been inspired to paint messages from Scripture because "the word of God isn't just for people in the past; it's for people now as well.

"In my art, I work to reacquaint or 're-mind' people of our most important reason for living, and that reason is love. God's message of love is found over and over again in Scripture. It is God's great gift to us all, and each one of us can have it.

"As I look around society today, I see an increased focus on the self and a decreased focus on others. People seem distracted with so much materialism. The media tell them certain things are important: money, looking and feeling good, sex, the self, what I can get, what I can do. Rarely do I hear any mention of God or love."

Graphics

Ms. Nigro's work makes use of graphics and lettering in big, bold print, accompanied by lots of primary colors.

The Scripture messages are simple: "The heavens declare the glory of God," "Love is sacrifice," or "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men."

"We are from God, and God wants us to know this. If we choose God, we can have His gift of love forever," she noted. "My paintings are a call to people from God to love each other. In the words I choose, I try to draw people's attention to God and to His great love through the power of the word.

"My hope is that people are inspired to celebrate these truths because the stronger we love, the more 'eternal' we feel and the more we can recognize God's love for us."

Timely topics

Mr. Rosen is a retired political cartoonist whose work was published for 45 years by the Albany Times Union and various Hearst newspapers around the country. 

"My cartoon work has always dealt with timely subjects, popular political figures and issues," he explained. "Both of our works speak on timely issues, but Kara's address spiritual issues, the eternal side of life as well.

"My pictures and her words both raise questions, and cause people to think about what we are saying. It will be nice to see the two different messages and how they are interpreted."

(Mr. Rosen is the co-author of "From Rocky to Pataki," published by Syracuse University Press in 1998, which captures 40 years of New York State political history in editorial cartooning and dialogue. Ms. Nigro can be contacted at [email protected]. The Pangburn Gallery is located at 190 Main St. in Altamont. Call 861-0038.)

(5/20/04)