The exhibition The Influence of Color combines incredible, multifaceted compositions of vivid and visceral musings. From the more abstract to those with hints of realism, the works of these talented artists challenge the viewer at every turn in a potent and direct emotional experience. In each of the pieces featured, the allure emanating from each detailed brushstroke is pervasive amidst layers of texture, movement, space, shape, and pattern, though the manifestation of color ultimately commands the conversation.

There is a “wealth of bright colors inside me,” says Norwegian painter Anne Grete Floenes. Submerged in multifaceted fields of color, the shapes the artist conjures weave between one another or nestle in groupings that appear across the canvas.

Cartonniste Francis JOIRIS combines varying cardboards and recycled objects with painting techniques to make something entirely new. Joiris’s work is partly reminiscent of Robert Rauschenberg's, though it is freer in its color palette and more restrained in its materials.

Marie-Claire Kramer, a focused and energetic free spirit, tackles various genres of paintings: her portfolio includes still lifes, landscapes, portraits, and abstract works, all detailed with a distinctive impressionistic minimalism.

"When painting, I feel guided by improvisation,” artist Bethany Mabee says. “What usually starts as something non-representational becomes a study of inner exploration.” Through her skill as a colorist, her strong compositions, and her juxtaposition of textures, the artist creates images that transform those inner explorations into vividly dramatic experiences.

The abstract expressionist paintings of American artist Sandra Mueller-Dick achieve something similar, enticing the viewer right from the start and beckoning them deeper and deeper, until shadows of the self can be seen clearly through the layers of paint and mixed media elements.

For artist Björn Ryfors, the process begins when the “empty canvas steps aside, the colors take place, and a picture is born.” His oil paintings, which the artist terms non-figurative, depict abstract forms and landscapes with rough energy and brush strokes visible even from a distance.

Painting in acrylics on canvas, Gillian Smith effectively employs the bright tones that acrylics provide, while also working through the subtle variations in each color to create a sense of depth and space that brings each scene vividly to life.

Swedish artist Jacob Södergren creates organic abstract works with acrylic on canvas. The contrast of macro and micro found in the subjects of his work adds another facet to the pigments and incorporates the artist's fluid use of materials when he applies the paint to the canvas.

The work of Detroit native Ozie combines carpentry with painting, forming one-of-a-kind pieces that can best be described as wall sculptures. After he picks out the color combinations for each piece, he applies paint and other materials intuitively, allowing what he calls "the destiny of the painting" to emerge of its own accord.

For Lena Adamina Waldau, the materials used in an artwork are an essential part of its story. “The starting point," she notes, “often lies in the material I have collected; suddenly something wants to be turned into art.”