An invitation came in the mail. The reporter was invited to the opening of a contemporary fine art exhibition by one of the galleries, the Kate Oh Gallery on the Upper East Side of New York City, where the expressionist pictures of a living American painter, Nancy Prager, are presented.
Expressionism, the art movement of the twentieth century—expressionism that flourished in the 1920s—seems to be alive and well in the twenty-first century. This is evidenced by the exhibition to which the invitation was received. The pictures of contemporary painter Nancy Prager represent the expressionist trend. Art history calls artistic manifestations where the creator emphasizes his own subjective reflections as expressive.
Expressionism is the art movement that started at the beginning of the last century to express protest against bourgeois society. A characteristic of the expressionist style is that the painters’ brushstrokes convey restlessness, and sometimes they operate with surprising colors. Instead of simply depicting the appearance of reality, the expressionist painters presented their feelings and thoughts about reality, as far as possible without any strings attached.
Expressionists project their inner experiences, things that appeared in their souls and thoughts, often in exaggerated or distorted forms.
The above statements are true of Nancy Prager’s paintings.
Painter Nancy Prager (Kamel) is a well-known personality in the United States. President of the Association of Foreign Correspondents operating in the USA and the Board of Directors of the Foreign Press Club. He previously served as the US National Commissioner for UNESCO, Chair of the Global Partnership Board of Vital Voices, and as its Chief Representative to the United Nations. He organized and chaired a series of UN panels on strategic human rights and development issues sponsored by UN governments and agencies. Nancy Prager was co-director of the UN “World Children’s Day”; she started the first program for children with disabilities at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. As an active painter, he previously had several exhibitions in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. In Fine Art Magazine, Jamie Ellin Forbes wrote that Nancy Prager’s paintings are “rich in symbolism, metaphor, and personal iconography, all of which combine balance, classicism, and well-crafted.” The Fine Art Magazine article adds that “Nancy sculpts the female body with a non-obtrusive sensuality. Sometimes he uses soft bright colors and somber shadows to create mood.”
The aforementioned art criticism emphasizes that Nancy Prager, radiating subtle emotions about the issue of life and death, “uses warm pastel colors such as peach, rose, light sapphire and slate gray in her works.” She then adds that “Is it possible that we see the self as it catches a glimpse of its own existence?
Decorated in bright yellow, bright flowers, red, pentecost and blue, the naked upper body becomes one with the brightly colored earthy background.
There’s no particular focus here, other than how good it feels.” In the description of the current exhibition, Kate Oh Gallery described Nancy Prager’s paintings as follows: “In her expressionist works, anatomical suggestions and figurative elements can be found, the outline of a hand, a limb or a head can be faintly discerned in the works.” The author of the exhibition described the paintings as impressive. She explained that in the background of the pictures, “willow, soft fibers and creamy white and golden yellow locks populate and flow. Countless columnar spots made up of fragmented parts: greenish and crushing blue, blood-orange stripes” are visible.
The author added by way of description: “In the paintings with an expressionistic design, gold and white stripes and drips flow onto the canvas.” The exhibition description emphasized: “reality must be expressed in art, but only by those who are able to express the subject and justice. Prager is the artist who can do that.”
Visitors to the exhibition can see this for themselves.
As a taster, our page recalls some of the exhibited images.
