Our new 2019 group show, All About Blue, opens February 27 at the Elisa Contemporary Art Riverdale Gallery. As the name suggests, the show is focused on the color blue.

The color blue represents the sea, as well as the sky. It is associated with open spaces, a sense of freedom and expansiveness, and inspiration to reach beyond. The color blue has positive affects on the body, mind and spirit. Blue is calming -- engaging the body to produce chemicals that create feelings of peace, ease and tranquility.

Throughout the centuries, the color blue within fine art has an altogether different story as the rarest and most precious shade of all. Some artists even went into debt in order to use the color. During the Renaissance, many painters had to grind up the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli in order to make the deep blue pigment, ultramarine. Ultramarine was so expensive that some paintings were never finished because the painter couldn’t afford to buy more pigment. Even Michelangelo couldn’t afford it and Raphael used it only for a top coat.

Between 1947 and 1957, the French artist Yves Klein perfected what he considered the purest blue of all. He registered International Klein Blue (IKB) as a trademark in 1960 and the deep ultramarine became his signature.

We'll be exploring the color blue across a range of different mediums -- including painting and works on paper. Featured artists will include Kimber Berry, Marie Danielle Leblanc, and Cynthia MacCollum.