This weekend Haven Gallery is thrilled to present new exhibitions by exceptional artists Brian Mashburn, Kseniia Boko, Genevive Zacconi, Calvin Laituri, and Dongni Hou. This event promises to leave you captivated and curious. Each of these five artists offers a unique perspective, inviting us to delve into their imagined worlds and explore the depth of their artistic expression. Through their work, they open a window to their passion, allowing us to be part of their creative voice that speaks to the soul of individuality.
Thought-provoking narratives weave like threads of emotion and resonate long after the story ends. Fostering a sense of connection, each artist inspires us as they reshape the artistic landscape and encourage us to embrace our own creativity. View each collection in their entirety, and all available inventory, by visiting the Haven Gallery website!
Brian Mashburn, Kseniia Boko, Genevive Zacconi
Calvin Laituri, Dongni Hou
Opening Event with Brian Mashburn, Genevive Zacconi and Calvin Laituri
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 17, 2024 | 6-8pm
Exhibition Dates: August 17 – September 15, 2024
The event is open to the public | Free Entry | Refreshments will be served.
Haven Gallery
50 Main St., Northport, NY 11768 | ph. (631) 757-0500
To inquire, please contact Erica at Haven Gallery via email info@havengallery.com
About the Gallery //
Haven Gallery is run by Erica Berkowitz and Joseph Weinreb. The gallery first opened in 2015 in the Carriage House of historic Northport, NY. Within two years, the gallery doubled in size and expanded into the entire Carriage House building. Through their successful in-house exhibitions and presentations at art fairs both domestic and international, Haven opened a secondary location at 90 Main St., in 2020, during the height of the Covid pandemic.
It was at that point, that Erica and Joseph knew it was time to find a permanent location for their artists. In January of 2022, they bought the building at 50 Main st., and opened its doors as Haven Gallery’s perennial home.
Haven Gallery’s focus is on exhibiting emotionally, intellectually and imaginatively driven, representational artwork that connects the audience and artist with universal axioms and passions. We work with both emerging and established artists who transcend their medium and subjects by exploring the world around them as well as the one within themselves.
Brian Mashburn, Carnival
Haven Gallery is pleased to present a collection of fourteen new paintings from North Carolina based artist Brian Mashburn, for his fifth solo show entitled “Carnival” at the gallery. “Carnival” finds inspiration from Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Carnival of Animals” musical symphony and features 14 oil works nodding to the fourteen animals/themes from the suite.
Artist Statement // “Carnival” is a series of 14 new paintings loosely based on Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals – a 19th century musical suite comprising 14 movements rooted in the animal kingdom.
Following a disastrous concert tour of Germany in 1885-1886, Saint-Saëns withdrew to a small Austrian village where he composed The Carnival of the Animals. From the outset he viewed the work as unserious and potentially career damaging, to the extent he prohibited its publication until after his death. Saint-Saëns died in 1921 and with the exception of The Swan and a few private performances, The Carnival of the Animals remained largely unheard for decades. The suite was eventually published in 1922 to great acclaim.
Today it is considered among his best-known and most beloved works. With conspicuous frivolity, The Carnival of the Animals features parodies and musical jokes, a little shade directed at music critics alongside some polite indignation. It was intended to be a light-hearted departure from his typically serious work and it shows with its playful aspect and somewhat hokey interludes.
As an artist I find this origin story appealing. It shows how new creative avenues can be uncovered by letting go of the more self-serious, self-conscious aspects of one’s work. Moreover, it suggests a novel creative potential made available during liminal and uncertain periods. By removing the constraints imposed by expectation – writing for a private audience, withdrawing to the countryside – Saint-Saëns was free to compose with a lightness and charm that he perhaps would not have been capable otherwise. Traditionally Carnival is the period of public celebration and revelry before the observance of Lent, a sort of reprieve.
Artists over time, as I have come to realize, follow a path of inquiry and contemplation that while justified and executed in good faith can lead to a level of self consciousness and trepidation leading to an overly serious, pretentious approach to art-making. Periods of transition and uncertainty offer the silver lining of new insights and a fresh perspective.
As a new and first-time father of a 20 month-old boy at the time of writing (think: teething, sleep deprivation, ubiquitous viral loads and a new appreciation of my own mortality), my home and studio are a pretty good embodiment of transition and uncertainty – hence The Carnival of the Animals seemed an apt jumping off point for my latest solo with Haven Gallery.
The 14 paintings in the series are not necessarily illustrative of their musical counterparts; the music needn’t be reproduced visually, I’d argue that’s not really possible in any case. By and large the music acts as a sort of armature or underlying structure for the series of paintings. Some pieces are the result of following tangents, going down rabbit holes while considering various aspects of the music and ending up with an image seemingly unrelated to its musical pairing; while others more directly borrow/appropriate the subject.
Kseniia Boko,Whispering Woodlands
Haven Gallery is pleased to present Ukranian based artist Kseniia Boko, for her fourth solo show at the gallery, entitled “Whispering Woodlands”. “Whispering Woodlands” is a new collection of oil paintings focusing on human and animal portraiture utilizing ethereal palettes and empyrean landscapes highlighting the magic of nature and that of within.
Kseniia Boko (actual surname Bobchenko, b. 1990) is a traditional artist living and working in Ukraine. She works primarily in oil paints and creates fantastic pieces featuring mysterious female portraits with fragments of the natural world. She wants to show a harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.
Kseniia graduated Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture (in 2013) and worked as an architect before serendipitously falling into the art world. Today she works as a full-time artist.
Genevive Zacconi, Immemorial
Haven Gallery is pleased to present a collection of new works from artist Genevive Zacconi, entitled “Immemorial,” for her first solo show at the gallery. “Immemorial” blends traditional portraiture with symbology from antiquity, emphasizing the universality and timelessness of these motifs and their relevance throughout the evolution of mankind. Looking to the gamut of art history, Zacconi juxtaposes hieroglyphics, pictographs, and neoclassical portrait tendencies to connect us to past, present and future.
Each painting is vehemently researched and pieced together to hold deep and pertinent meaning for both the artist and viewer. Developing her work further, Zacconi adds reflective gold, and carves into the surface of her paintings, creating sculptural dimension—insisting the tableaus be experienced in person. One finds multiple movements of creation contemplated and criticized, highlighting the vicissitudes of human development and artistic rumination.
Genevive Zacconi’s paintings have been displayed at prominent galleries across the world, in both solo and group exhibitions. She has been featured by media outlets such as MSNBC, Juxtapoz, Hi-Fructose, Beautiful Bizarre, and in numerous hardbound art books. Her illustration and design work can be found in advertisements, album art, and novels. In addition to creating her own art, Zacconi was the director of Trinity Gallery in Philadelphia, worked as painting assistant to Ron English, was co-founder and director of Last Rites Gallery in New York City, and served as exhibition director for the world’s largest erotic art expo.
She has written about art for multiple arts organizations and internationally distributed magazines, and co-authored with Daniel Martin Diaz 2023’s “Iconoclasm.” Zacconi currently splits her time between Philadelphia and the Yucatan Peninsula.
Calvin Laituri, Endfield County
Haven Gallery is pleased to present a collection of ten new ink works from Vermont based artist Calvin Laituri for his third solo exhibition entitled “Endfield County” at the gallery. “Endfield County” demonstrates the artists highly detailed line work depicting New England landscapes and architecture, as guided by an curious fox. Monochromatic yet serene, one finds layers of emotion and contemplation in these quiet yet poetic scenes of inquisitiveness.
Devoid of human presence, outside of the structures left behind, one is reminded of the great expanse of time, the unbounded essence of nature and ephemerality of life. Touches of gold are used to highlight the beautiful details of the natural world that sometimes go unseen, reminding us to cherish the present and all the beauty the world holds.
Laituri’s work is made up of highly skilled line work, built from a push and pull approach where ink is laid down on his clayboard medium, and carved out with sharpened tools, resulting in highly defined and meticulous strokes reminiscent of a cross hatching technique. Each drawing cultivates its monochromatic palette to emphasize the artists control of values, contrast, mood and narrative, as inspired by printmakers and artists of the past. This dichotomy of technique serves as an accentuation of the artists play on dualities throughout his work.
Dongni Hou, Beyond the Veil
Haven Gallery is pleased to present a collection of tempera paintings from Paris based artist Dongni Hou for her first solo exhibition entitled “Beyond the Veil” at the gallery. “Beyond the Vei” presents a collection of bold yet gossamer portraits of female sitters often shrouded in armor. Hou paints heroines, unveiling the deepest emotional complexities of their expeditions and psyche, often nodding to the darker chambers of the human soul. Poetic introspection and reflection are evident in the moments she captures with tempera, as one cannot avoid the darkness in even the most noble of pursuits.
Textured and haunting backdrops serve as extensions of the psychological complexities to further the emotional state and personal strength each sitter carries on their quest. Feminine yet tenacious, each portrait embodies the dualities of the human condition, the multi-faceted nature of the choices we make and the tethers that continue to stay with us afterward. Completed with antique and aged frames, the artist honors and adorns her female visages with mounting reflective of the wear and beauty of life.
Dongni HOU was born in 1987 in Fuxin, in the Chinese province of Liaoning. After studying graphic arts from a very young age, she joined the famous Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg at 19. Several of her works were selected for the permanent collection of the Academy of Fine Arts Museum. She now lives and works in France.
