Two art exhibitions focused on Central Park will open this week. Fountain Gallery, a space located at 702 Ninth Avenue dedicated to representing artists with mental illnesses, will launch a solo exhibition INTO CENTRAL PARK: Photographs by Leonard Aschenbrand with a reception tomorrow evening. The gallery will be displaying 39 works from Aschenbrand, a self-taught photographer. The photos represent the inhabitants and vistas of Central Park. According to Fountain Gallery manager Ariel Willmott, who organized the exhibition, "Len's collection offers a getaway from hectic city life into moments of wonderment at the plants, wildlife, and grandeur of this place." The exhibition will continue through October 30.
On the other side of town, at 1220 Fifth Avenue, The Museum of the City of New York will unveil its first exhibition of Central Park paintings by NYC artist Janet Ruttenberg. Picturing Central Park: Paintings by Janet Ruttenberg will open on September 13 and run through January 5. For over a dozen years Ruttenberg has chosen Central Park as the focus of her bold and enormous paintings and watercolor studies. The installation will feature nine works on paper and eight paintings, two with projected video. Most of the works are fifteen feet in width and will be supplemented by a selection of preparatory photographs and drawings featuring Central Park throughout the seasons. The artists' true focus is the human figure, for which the park serves as a perfect backdrop. The confluence of visitors is inhabitants inspire her. Of her work in the park she says, “that’s really the message…the mix of the nationalities of the world.”
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