steven harvey fine art projects presents Pastorale, a group show exploring depictions of the natural world and country life in contemporary painting and ceramics. Pastoral(e) refers to any genre of art – music, literature, painting, dance – which evokes the rural and the natural. The pastoral presents the ideal of provinciality as a romantic and idyllic alternative to life in urban spaces. Loaded with moral, religious and mythic implications, there is an elegiac quality to pastoral art, which suggests that the simplicity and purity of the natural world is no longer a part of the modern experience. A notable example of the pastorale is Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, which he once described as “more the expression of feeling than painting.” 

This exhibition features works by an eclectic group of artists, including Peter Acheson, Rebecca Allan, Gregory Amenoff, Lennart Anderson, Gideon Bok, Gregory Botts, Chuck Bowdish, Gandy Brodie, Susan Carr, Susanna Coffey, Abigail Dudley, Barbara Ess, Mary Flinn, Marion Gast, Wolf Kahn, Beth Kaminstein, June Leaf, Stanley Lewis, Susan Lichtman, Raoul Middleman, Ruth Miller, Richard Morrison, Stephanie Pierce, Paul Resika, Lillian Garcia-Roig, EM Saniga, Kyle Staver, Loraine Stephanson, Gwen Strahle, Ying Li, and Gillian Wainwright. Though the works were not necessarily created with the pastorale in mind, they are contemporary interpretations of the theme, working with the aesthetics of nature, urbanity, tranquility, observation and memory. Pastorale will be on view in Ellenville, NY as part of the Upstate Art Weekend and will subsequently move to the SHFAP gallery space in NYC. Please contact the gallery at 917-861-7312 or info@shfap.com for further information.