Anita Shapolsky Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by Nassos Daphnis and Ernest Briggs.  Daphnis and Briggs approach abstraction from different perspectives. Daphnis seeks order and balance through geometric forms. His paint surface is flat and cool, free from painterly gesture. Briggs interprets nature as a powerful, explosive force. His paintings are tactile and emotional.  Both artists share a commitment to abstraction and a belief that through the medium of paint, one is offered a glimpse into the mystery of existence. The works of Daphnis and Briggs are included in numerous museums and private collections.
        
Nassos Daphnis was born in Greece in 1914 and immigrated to the United States in 1930. His early works were based on his memories of Greece and eventually evolved into biomorphic shapes representing the natural world.  His experience observing nature led him to the following conclusion: "nature works in order to create a form in an orderly fashion."  This observation along with a stint in the army painting camouflage patterns and a 1950 trip to Greece where the intensity of light reduced all appearances into basic forms led Daphnis to create flat, abstract, geometric paintings.
 
Daphnis’ “Color - Plane Theory” determines the way pure color inhabits abstract space by the density and quality of each particular color. He has created work that is environmental, The Continuous Painting 1975 (measuring 86 feet wide and 10 feet high) and created site specific installations in New York City. His paintings continue to offer viewers a mesmerizing and powerful experience. Daphnis exhibited with Leo Castelli Gallery for over thirty years. The Anita Shapolsky gallery will feature a selection of paintings spanning his entire career.

Ernest Briggs was born in San Francisco in 1923. He studied under Clyfford Still at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. The faculty, assembled by Douglas MacAgy, also included Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt. After moving to New York in 1953, Briggs began exhibiting at Stable Gallery. He participated in several Whitney Museum Annuals and in 1956 was included in the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition “12 Americans” curated by Dorothy Miller.

Briggs sought inspiration in nature. The changing qualities of the natural world are conveyed through his ragged and expressive brushwork. A second generation Abstract Expressionist, Briggs represents “action painting.” His paintings are alive; they offer viewers an experience that is both mysterious and known. The Anita Shapolsky gallery will feature a selection of his work from the 1950s through the 1980s.

For more information, please contact: Anita Shapolsky Gallery at Ashapolsky@nyc.rr.com