Artists Christos Calivas, Gabriella Fiabane & John Whitney to Open Exhibition Monday, March 12, 2018 at Gingerbread Square Gallery

 This upcoming exhibition at Gingerbread Square Gallery, which will feature a rich assortment of new works by John Whitney, Gabriella Fiabane and Christos Calivas, is sure to be intriguing to collectors of fine art. It begins with an opening reception on Monday, March 12th from 5:30 to 8:00PM and continues through March18th. However, it will be available for early viewing beginning on Sunday, March 10th.

John Whitney’s abstract figurative works are fresh and alluring. Gabriella Fiabane is best known for her landscapes, seascapes and paintings of interiors of Key West and Nantucket. Christos Calivas’ paintings are an exploration of the spectrum between realism and abstraction inspired by his surroundings in Maine, Greece and Key West.

John Whitney’s childhood was considerably different than most. His Aunt Marjorie Whitney was Chairman of the Design Department of the University of Kansas, muralist, and illustrator of numerous books and publications. His father William R. Whitney Jr. had been Supervisor of The Arts and Crafts Division of WPA in Kansas, displayed work at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, and also worked with Eleanor Roosevelt as an advisor for a WPA arts project called The Reedsville Project in Arthurdale, West Virginia. Growing up in a family of artists, he spent much of his youth on painting excursions traveling to river banks, road cuts, and lakes, looking for roots and boulders that through erosion had exposed the skeleton structure that formed the vast prairies of Kansas and Oklahoma.

John Whitney has had a rich life in visual arts starting in 1960 as a stage designer and muralist, exhibiting from 1965 -1970 in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Taos. John is currently a traditional graphics artist and painter in oil and watercolor. In this studio he works on his well-known figurative works on paper that are in demand throughout the World. It is from that same studio that he also creates his magnificent emotion based oil paintings and his very popular watercolors. His work today can be found in collections from Egypt to Guatemala and Germany and North America.

As in his childhood when he used the roots on the riverbanks to describe the understructure of the prairie, John Whitney paints the essence within us. His complex emotional figurative based work displays John’s compassion for form and shared space while conveying expressionism. He captures the substance in the subject and gives it movement by creating multiple views of its form. Each viewing shapes a different mood and in their fusion he sculpts the intricate novel that reflects our lives.

 Christos Calivas, a self-taught painter, works in Maine and spends part of his time in Greece and Key West. This is his second show at Gingerbread Square Gallery. He has studied painting with many notable artists at the Massachusetts College of Art. In addition to being a full time artist, he is also an avid sailor, a licensed Merchant Marine Captain, holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree, and is a musician with an interest in Middle Eastern, Armenian and Greek Music. Christos brings to his painting the richness of all these experiences, which for him is an expression of the world he loves. His passion for sailing and the outdoor world is reflected in his subject matter, often encompassing waterfront wharfs and vessels, local architecture, the sky and water in its infinite variations of color and light. Many of his paintings are inspired by his surroundings in Maine, Greece and Key West.

Calivas’ paintings are an exploration of the spectrum between realism and abstraction. Speaking about this element of his work he has said: “In my painting, I always consider the creative tension between the abstract elements the canvas and my immediate, intense response to the landscapes before me. Over the years I have become increasingly aware of the danger of creating pleasing but emptied-out shapes that may have decorative strength but can become too far removed from my original source and inspiration. As I advance in both directions, my emotional and aesthetic response to a particular place is now tightly joined to the colors, abstract shapes and forms I quickly find within that scene. My objective is to create paintings that are strong and convincing aesthetically while still conveying an intensely felt sense of place.” His work is exhibited in many galleries in the US and internationally.

For Gabriella Fiabane drawing and painting was an important foundation of her childhood as she comes from a family of painters and artists. Gabriella is primarily self-taught and has painted full time for the past nineteen years focusing on her instinctive approach to art. Her talent has been recognized by the receipt of numerous honors including having been the 2004 recipient of the Evelyn Kawaler Visual Arts Scholarship in the Florida Keys and the Rodel Foundation of Florida fellowship in In 2011 she won first place in oil painting at the Artist Association of Nantucket summer juried exhibition. Ms Fiabane has shown her work in galleries in Boulder, CO, Silver City, NM, and Nantucket. While best known for her landscapes, seascapes and paintings of interiors, Gabriella also works in the figurative and still life genres. Her paintings appear in private collections in the US, Canada, Europe and South America.

This upcoming exhibition at Gingerbread Square Gallery, which will feature a rich assortment of new works by John Whitney, Gabriella Fiabane and Christos Calivas, is sure to be intriguing to collectors of fine art. It begins with an opening reception on Monday, March 12th from 5:30 to 8:00PM and continues through March18th. However, it will be available for early viewing beginning on Sunday, March 10th.

 Gingerbread Square Gallery is located “Uptown” at 1207 Duval Street, Key West, Florida 33040. The gallery is open daily from 10AM to 6PM. Phone: 305-296-8900. www.GingerbreadSquareGallery.com Email: [email protected]

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