Immersion Exhibit

Elisa Contemporary Art at

THE DESIGN STUDIO

Immersion

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Elisa Contemporary Art presents Immersion at The Design Studio in Bridgehampton, NY. Immersion is a deep dive into the Summer Season featuring the Swimmer artwork of Kaua’i artist Carol Bennett, New Orleans Hyperrealist Matt Story and San Francisco Minimalist, Jeffrey Palladini.

This is the first exhibit debuting our newest gallery artist, hyperrealist Matt Story. We will also be debuting a paint and video “painting” by Jeffrey Palladini.

Each of our artists has a different relationship and significance for focusing on water and underwater movement.

The exhibit will run from June 15 through July 27 2015.

What:

Immersion

Artists:

Kaua’i artist Carol Bennett, New Orleans Hyperrealist Matt Story, San Francisco Minimalist, Jeffrey Palladini.

When:

June 15-July 27, 2015

Special Events: Open Reception on Saturday, July 11 from 2:30- 4pm.

Where:

The Design Studio, 2393 Main St, Bridgehampton, NY 11932

Hours:

Monday-Thursday 10 am – 5 pm

Friday/Saturday 10am – 5:30pm Sunday 11am – 4pm

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Carol Bennett uses water as a meditative journey through space and life.

Her fascination with the swimmer imagery began when she was living in Los Angeles and swimming at the LA Athletic Club. According to Bennett,: “The floor beneath the pool, with its ethereal skylight, was an underwater observation room...used by Olympic coaches in the 1920's. I would feel like a voyeur, watching the swimmer's private time and drawing in their beauty. I became the swimmer I observed in the images I later created.�

Carol Bennett, Moon Lighting Oil on Wood Panel

40 x 60 Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Water and swimming pools specifically, have been featured in Jeffrey Palladini’s work for years, initially developed as part of his Hotel Series.

According to Palladini, “In addition to reflecting the work of influences like David Hockney and Eric Fischl, these works also originate from my youth in Southern California, and have come to symbolize for me not only the calm normally associated with water, but also a deep sensuality and intimacy.”

Palladini is also using the water in his new series of work – combining painting and video -to focus on the duality between stillness and motion, the passive and the active, and the tension created between the two.

The painted figures in the foregrounds physically occupy our tangible world, but are inert, motionless while the world and water in this case, moves on without them. They are passive in the truest sense, helpless or unwilling to effect events unspooling around them.

Jeffrey Palladini Chaise #20 Oil and Charcoal on Wood Panel 13 x 49

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

For Matt Story, water serves as a metaphor for “a deeper self-birth, cleansing and baptism.�

His paintings draw their inspiration From underwater photographs, including a recent shoot in New Orleans in 45 degree weather in an outdoor pool.

Matt Story Summer Bubble Down Oil on Wood Panel 72 x 24

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Carol Bennett Lagoon Oil on Wood Panel 32 x 32

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Carol Bennett Manganese Oil on Wood Panel 44 x 44

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Carol Bennett Turn Oil on Wood Panel 24 x 24

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Carol Bennett Light 2 Oil on Wood Panel 37 x 46

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Carol Bennett Suspense Study 3 Oil on Wood Panel 24 x 24

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Carol Bennett Departure Right Acrylic and Graphite on Sailcloth 12 x 38 framed to 23 x 50

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Carol Bennett Lyra Oil and Shellac on Paper 22 x 22 framed to 26 x 26

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Carol Bennett Salmon Study Oil and Shellac on Paper 22 x 22 framed to 26 x 26

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Matt Story Red Back Bend Oil on Wood Panel 42 x 28 Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Matt Story Green Back Spin

Oil on Canvas 24 x 30 SOLD

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Matt Story Silver Dive

Oil on Wood Panel 24 x 36

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Jeffrey Palladini Chaise #10

Oil and Charcoal on Wood Panel 13 x 73

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

Jeffrey Palladini Pool #21

Oil and Charcoal on Plexi on LEDTV. Video 21 x 29

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

About the Artists Carol Bennett She is a native of Los Angeles, who has spent the last 20 years living in Hawaii in Kaua'i. She spends all of her time surrounded by water, and a great deal within it.

Carol's work has been featured in many solo and group exhibits throughout California and Hawaii. Carol has created a number of public art commissions worldwide including “Water as a Point of Departure” for the Nawiiwili Harbor in Oahu and a 48' x 8' photovoltaic glass canopy for the Hawai'i State Art Museum Sculpture Garden.

Her work is in numerous public and private collections including The Contemporary Museum of Art (Hawaii) and The Persis Collection of Contemporary Art. Jeffrey Palladini Jeffrey Palladini’s unconventional portraits evoke feelings of sensuality and euphoria. While the San Franciscobased artist studied at California State University, it was in Florence that his true creative spirit was pulled forth from the beauty that surrounded him.

Now his modern figure paintings breathe life with vibrant colors and flowing brush strokes. Unlike many portrait paintings, Jeffrey minimizes the amount of detail and information allowing the viewer to gain intense suggestions of emotions in an instant. The simplicity is reminiscent of Alex Katz.

Palladini has exhibited his work around the U.S. and the world for over twenty years. His work is included in numerous private and corporate collections. Most recently, Palladini was honored with an SFMOMA SECA Award nomination, and in 2013 was named one of San Francisco's Top 20 Artists by Asterisk Magazine.

Matt Story Matt Story studied art from an early age and demonstrated a unique skill for rendering verisimilitude, or hyper-realism. "I was lauded for 'photo-realistic' technique, but I was never after that, really, after what a camera impartially sees, because there's so much more there, captured only by the human filter of memory. We all possess these invisible imprints, through experience and living, but often its only artists who can play it back for us, to remind us. The paint surface needs to be a mirror for the viewer, reflecting back not his or her superficial self, but a deep shared humanness. This is the essence of looking at a piece that's totally unfamiliar to you and yet, being awed with a sense of recognition. " Story has worked for over twenty years from his studio in Los Angeles but in mid-2013 began traveling with his wife, first with a long hiatus on the Isle of Palms near Charleston, South Carolina, and recently a long stint near Santa Fe, New Mexico and New Orleans where he paints today. His method of oil painting on canvas and panel closely resembles the classical method, used for centuries by masters such as Titian and Caravaggio, two of Story's heroes, fastidiously building up thin glazes, painting "fat over lean" with traditional materials.

His work is included in private and corporate collections in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974

About The Design Studio The Design Studio founded by interior designer Eugènia Au Kim and home furnishings expert Ely Horen has been considered the Hamptons most prestigious interior design firm since 1984. In 1988, they opened their retail store. The Design Studio is a unique interior design firm that embraces both interior design projects and home furnishings.

The Design Studio and client projects have been featured in The New York Times, Newsday, Hamptons Magazine, Home Journal, Homes of the Hamptons and Hamptons Cottages & Gardens (HC&G). The Design Studio was a finalist in the HC&G Innovation in Design Awards in the Interior Design category (2012), participated in the HC&G Holiday House NYC (2013 and 2014) and in 2014 was featured on Open House NYC and Housewives of New York.

The retail store located at 2393 Main St, Bridgehampton, NY. The Design Studio hours are MondayThursday 10 am – 5 pm; Friday/Saturday 10am – 5:30pm; Sunday 11am – 4pm. 631.537.1999.

About Elisa Contemporary Art Elisa Contemporary Art represents a portfolio of both emerging and established contemporary artists, many of whom have work in the permanent collections of major museums and corporations.

Founded in 2007 by Lisa Cooper, Elisa Contemporary Art is dedicated to promoting the appreciation and collection of art as a way to enrich and heal our lives, our communities, and the world.

Elisa Contemporary Art has participated in international art fairs in New York, Miami and the Hamptons, and curated over 15 public art exhibits in the Tri-State area.

A portion of every gallery sale is donated to charities helping underserved children heal through art. We support Free Arts NYC and Art Therapy Outreach Center.

Elisa Contemporary Art has been featured in a number of publications including Ocean Home Magazine, Hamptons Cottages & Gardens, New York Spaces and The New York Times.

For more information, visit the website at www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com or see us on Artsy and 1stdibs.

Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974