OCEAN

Curated by Debbie Dickinson
DEBBIE DICKINSON - CURATOR

Debbie Dickinson Gallery presents fifteen artists, three filmmakers and a scientist that show the world, through creative interpretation, the perils our majestic oceans face.

Let there be a clean ocean for the fish in the sea and clear air for the birds, as it needs to be. Co-executive producers Dragana Connaughton and Emmy winning cinematographer Tom Fitz teamed up with Emmy-winning producer, Katie Carpenter to awaken our senses towards the ocean’s critical issues in the acclaimed documentary “Paradise Polluted: Pacific Plastic.” The film documents the problems for wildlife and habitat while awakening the viewer to plastic usage and solutions to reduce the flow of plastics into the ocean.

Our featured speaker is Dr. Beckett Colson, Ocean Engineer in the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Colson is developing a sensor to detect microplastics directly in water, which will improve our understanding of microplastics in the environment and
enable future solutions.

The best international artists on display are curated by gallery owner, Debbie Dickinson (also a supermodel and actor) in alliance with Perseus Gallery. After seeing first hand fish kills in the Hudson River and Miami Bay, Dickinson became inspired to support the artists’ creative interpretation of our oceans. Featuring bold figurative, abstract, mixed media paintings, art photography and sculptures, “OCEAN” explores the artists’ emotions through modern mediums and a serious attempt to showcase their appreciation for the sustainability of our water.

Our filmmakers hope this work draws attention to reduce the flow of plastic into our oceans and educate minds. Our final goal is to highlight the importance of activism, distribute widespread ecological education for the next generation, to encourage policy and promote science as an important problem solving device.

OCEAN: Illumination Art Exhibition Artists – To showcase this integration the show will feature Bryan LeBoeuf, Bill Buchman, Carol Calicchio, Christophe von Hohenberg, David Richardson, Dominique Mulhem, Dragana Connaughton, Douglas Dubler, Eva B. Gorson, Evan Sebastian Lagache, Geraldo Perez, Iran Issa
Khan, Matt Stock, Michael McDyer, Michele Hall Parrish and Perseus artists.

BILL BUCHMAN

BILL BUCHMAN - ISLAND PAINTING

BRYAN LEBOEUF

BRYAN LEBOEUF
60" x 58" | Oil on Linen | 2023

CAROL CALICCHIO

CAROL CALICCHIO - HAMMERHEAD

CHRISTOPHE VON HOHENBERG

CHRISTOPHER VON HOHENBERG - DANCING IN THE RAIN

DAVID RICHARDSON

DAVID RICHARDSON - POSEIDON'S TABLE

DOMINIQUE MULHEM

DOMINIQUE MULHELM - UNDER VENICE

DOUGLAS DUBLER

DOUGLAS DUBLER - MYSTIC DAWN AND RAVEN

DRAGANA CONNAUGHTON

DRAGANA CONNAUGHTON - SCHOOL OF MULLET

EVA B. GORSON

EVA B. GORSON - SMILING ORCA

EVAN SEBASTIAN LAGACHE

EVAN LAGACHE

GERALDO PEREZ

GERALDO PEREZ - TIDE

IRAN ISSA KHAN

ISSA KHAN - GOLDEN PLEASURE

MATT STOCK

MATT STOCK - MERMAID

MICHAEL MCDYER

MICHAEL MCDYER - CREST

MICHELE HALL PARISH

MICHELE HALL PARISH - BUBBLE CORAL BOWL

FILMMAKER BIOGRAPHIES

TOM FITZ, co-executive producer / cinematographer, is a six time Emmy award-winning cameraman, producer and director who has documented our planet’s natural wonders for over thirty years. As a freelance cinematographer, Tom has worked for David Attenborough, the BBC, PBS, National Geographic and Discovery, among others. Tom is among a handful of cinematographers who have worked in all seven continents and five oceans, including under the ice in polar regions. @schoolyardsfilms

dragana headshot

DRAGANA CONNAUGHTON, co-executive producer and featured artist, serves on the Board of Directors for the National Wildlife Refuge Association and is a passionate wildlife conservationist and award-winning photographer. Her work has been published in Audubon, National Wildlife magazine and Palm Beach Illustrated. She has exhibited at the Ann Norton Sculpture Garden, Paul Fischer Gallery, Surovek Gallery, Studio 1608 and the Palm Beach Photographic Center.

Connaughton played a crucial role in the expansion of Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Monument by 314 million acres in 2015 and led communications with Secretary of State, John Kerry to expand the monument and place it in the National Wildlife Refuge System. @draganaconnaughton

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Bryan Leboeuf

BRYAN LEBOEUF was born on the Gulf Coast in rural Louisiana before moving to Colorado where he earned a BFA at Fort Lewis College. After moving to New York City in 1998, he received a Master’s degree from the New York Academy of Art in 2000. Since his first solo show in New York City in 2003, his work has exhibited throughout the United States and as far as the Beirut Art Fair in Lebanon, and the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Since 2008 and his first museum show at the Morris Museum in Augusta, Georgia, other public collections which have acquired his work include The Forbes Collection, The Flint Institute of Art and the Princeton University Art Museum. Although his technique and subject matter may appear traditional, his art implies modern psychological and social themes.www.bryanlaboeuf.com | @bryanleboeuf.

BILL BUCHMAN is a New York based artist, musician, educator and author whose expressive work draws on his extensive musical background. An intimate familiarity with what is meant by a harmony, a melody and a rhythm inform his every move with the paintbrush. Buchman’s career has spanned more than fifty years and he is known for abstractions characterized as “symphonies of space, form and color” and his figures (which are described as “lightning bursts of energy condensed into a fine line”).www.artispoetry.com | @artispoetry.

CAROL CALICCHIO

Fairfield County native Carol Calicchio’s ascent into the art world can be traced back to her family of artists and early education. Her mastery of abstract florals began several years after she earned a degree from the NYSID. A combination of painting and drawing studies at the School of Visual Arts helped Carol realize her true passion was best expressed in the art she had been hanging in others’ homes. So she set off on her own course finding an artistic realm of her own, through unique paintings that express rich energy palettes. Carol, who now lives in Delray Beach, Florida, creates her colorful works in a spacious, inspiring studio on the banks of the Intracoastal.  

www.carolcalicchioart.com

CHRISTOPHE VON HOHENBERG

Born in Oyster Bay, Long Island and, inspired by his stepfather (the photographer, Wendy Hilty), has been working with a Rolleiflex 2.8 ever since he was gifted one at the age of fourteen. His series “Under Franco,” photographed in Madrid exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art. After studying in Paris, Hohenberg freelanced with Guy Bourdin, Frank Moscati, Bob Stone and Peter Castellano. Hohenberg has worked American Vogue, Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine with Marc Balet and Vanity Fair (to name a few). He has also photographed advertising campaigns for Givenchy, Estee Lauder and the New York Times.

Hohenberg has penned several critically acclaimed books such as “Andy Warhol, The Day the Factory Died” (which was awarded the AIGA Book Award and the Photo District News Award), “Another Planet, New York 1976 – 1996” and “Shadows of the Gods.”  His photographic work has been exhibited at the Throckmorton Fine Art Gallery, the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, (among others).

www.christophevonhohenberg.com.

David Richardson

DAVID RICHARDSON

Born in Deia, Spain at the Residencia Hotel when he realized he was repetitively using arrows, binary code, circles and playing cards in his work while re-reading Yuval Harari’s Sapiens. He interpreted the meaning which described mankind haphazardly lurching towards what we think is progress. AI will be sold as a great leap forward for mankind. In reality, progress is myth as much as any pantheon of gods (the Greeks, Romans, Hindus, Christians, and all the rest).  In agreement with Harari, Richardson who believes we were at our best and most free as Hunter/Gatherers, ten to fifteen thousand years ago. The work is about myth and how myth is the universal blueprint that helps us make sense of life. Few people understand that, without myth, story, song, film, poetry and legend, we are rudderless ships bobbing on an ocean without a shore. Richardson considers his AI (Myth of Progress) works his own cave paintings.

www.derichardson.com

DOMINIQUE MULHEM

Born in 1952 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Dominique Mulhem is a French artist who lives and works in Asnières-sur-Seine. He continued his studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His passion for drawing and painting took shape at the age of 10. At the age of 21, he began his first experiments with the lenticular technique. It was at this time that his work caught the attention of Maurice Bonet, the inventor of the lenticular who became his mentor. Mulhem distinguished himself as a pioneering multimedia artist when he fused a traditional artistic technique, painting, with an emerging technology, holography, in 1980, during the inaugural exhibition of the Museum of Holography in Paris. The museum named his work “Holopainting.” 

Through his works, he has explored various media, subjecting art to an infinite spectrum of temporal and spatial changes, in a three-dimensional space between the past and the future. His work is characterized by a sequence of amazing concepts, including analyses, updates, continuations and reinterpretations that facilitate the spread of art history. The artistic techniques he masters include painting, sculpture, holography, lenticular, computer generated image and animation, which he uses individually or in combination in his multimedia works. He is considered one of the historical pioneers in the use of new technologies in art. For this exhibition on the theme of the Ocean, he has created works inspired by rising sea levels due to global warming. www.mulhem.com |@Dominiquemulhem

dragana headshot

DRAGANA CONNAUGHTON – See FILMMAKERS

Douglas Dubler

DOUGLAS DUBLER is a New York City based photographer who has achieved a level of recognition and accomplishment reflective of his more than five decades dedication to both the art and creation of photography. He attributes his success in part to his ability to synthesize left and right brain thinking, seamlessly joining creativity with technique. His early training in Fine and Liberal Arts at Boston University enriched him with an articulate sense of form, color, and composition. Early mentors in his creative life were Ansel Adams, Isamu Noguchi, and Neal Barr. His personal work is eclectic and runs the gamut from surreal abstraction to sea life to architectural studies. His digital fine art prints are represented by Mertens Fine Art in Montecito, California. Teaching venues include the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he is a graduate instructor, the International Center of Photography in New York City, the University of Miami MFA Photography program, The New York Botanical Garden, and Xposure2018 and Xposure2023 in Sharjah, U.A.E.. Dubler’s in-depth understanding of light, exposure and color have provided him with the tools to develop an ultra-high-quality approach to digital photography as an extension of the fastidious working process he developed as a master of analog film. He is acknowledged as one of the industry’s leading color management experts and specializes in fine art digital printmaking. The ability to meld technology with creative imagery has firmly established Douglas as an innovative artist and will continue to create a constant demand for his iconographic fine art images. www.douglasdubler3.com | @douglasdubler

EVA B. GORSON

Born and raised in Denmark, Eva attended Toftegare School where she developed her talents as an artist. Coming from an artistic family, her Mother & Brother  were both  gifted and talented artists.   

 Upon arriving in Miami in the ’80’s, she became the photo muse for top lensmen where she furthered her artistic eye.  She continued her passion for art, working with acrylic and oils, and her works have been a labor of love. www.evabgorson.com | @gorsoneva.

Evan Sebastian Lagache

EVAN SEBASTIAN LAGACHE –  27-year-old painter from New York City began his career ten years ago, when he discovered painting in plein air at Washington Square. Since then, he describes his work as a meditation, and a way to find peace in the tumult of the city. His paintings are inspired by the City and its structure yet connect with nature and its elements. Lagache defines his style as “Abpsychism”, a dialogue between abstract painting techniques and inner workings of the human psyche, influenced by emotions and surroundings. He works with many different mediums including acrylic, oil, ink, fire, graphite, collage and digital manipulation to produce emotionally evocative works. His palette traduces a holistic vision of the environment: from black and white concrete-tone, to deep blues and greens, and also vibrant warm tones. His work was first represented by Julie Keyes Art – Mark Borghi Gallery, NYC, “View from Within”, alongside Basquiat, Kondos, de Kooning and Calder. Lagache has exhibited in over 80 shows from NYC to France in many galleries, and featured at major Art Fairs including Art Basel as well as Pulse in Miami Beach and Art on Paper Fairs in NYC. After the pandemic, he spent his time in an artistic residency in Barbizon, France, an experience that unveiled a strong desire within him to explore the perspectives that the French landscape offered. This opportunity to dig deeper within his French roots inspired a new series of paintings exploring the notion of new beginnings.  www.evanlagache.com | @evanlagache.

GERALDO PEREZ – Born in the Dominican Republic, he moved to New York City as a child. While growing up in Hell’s Kitchen the pulsating vibrancy of his surroundings had a profound influence on him. The sounds, billboards, textures and constant motion, along with the exposure to museums and street art of every imaginable kind, still influence him today. Geraldo is a graduate of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science.

For more information on Geraldo, visit his www.gperezpaintings.com and follow him on Instagram @gperezpaintings.

Iran Issa Khan

IRAN ISSA KHAN – Born in Tehran and raised in Europe and the United States, Khan began her art photography in the late ’70s in New York under the mentorship of William Minor, Jr. Immersed in this period around influences such as Horst and Avedon, she began working as a professional fashion photographer. During the ’80s and ’90s she photographed some of the most memorable fashion icons (including Paulina Porizkova, Debbie Dickinson, Iman and Christy Turlington) for the covers of Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. In 2000 she transitioned from photographing beautiful people and celebrities to corals and objects of nature. Her photographic work has captured the sensuality of flora and fauna, immediately translating their natural beauty into sensuous art forms.www.iranissakhan.com | @iranissakhan.

Matt Stock

MATT STOCK is a New York City based artist who has been painting with a distinct style for the past decade.  Using inspiration from Pop Art, Stock incorporates vivid colors and abstract shapes to enhance the beauty of the female form. With his most recent paintings, depth of texture and an intricate use of shapes and patterns are on display. His work was recently featured in the Chroma Exhibition at Calligaris and Harvest Exhibition with Debbie Dickinson Gallery and Perseus Gallery. @matt_stock_paintings  

Michael McDyer

MICHAEL MCDYER from North fork, Long Island is a painter who loves color, texture and art for art sake. His subjects are always the beauty of the human form and nature. Whether painting an atmospheric landscape to communicate some countryside rich in form, texture and the effects of light, or simply a richly expressive abstract painting. His highly evocative landscapes and seascapes emerge from the Impressionist tradition and capture a soothing and magical dappled light.

Born in Miami, he has lived his adult life in New York and studied at the Art Students League, School of Visual Arts and The New School. He spent his professional life working in Manhattan as a graphic designer and art director. He has had solo exhibitions in New York City, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. His paintings are held in many private collections as well as corporate collections of American Express, and Brooklyn College. www.Michaelmcdyer.com.

MICHELE HALL PARRISH Owner-artist, Michele Parrish has over 30 years of commercial and fine art experience. Ms. Parrish received her art degree from the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale in 1976, graduating with Best Portfolio honor. She has received numerous awards and commissions for her artwork; has also taught several art courses at Bauder College, Ft. Lauderdale. She has been designing carved and etched glass since 1982. Michele enjoys working in different mediums, but carved glass and kiln-formed glass are her favorites. www.sandcastlestudio.com

Louis Angel Headshot

LOUIS ANGEL

As an artist, his main focus is to create something that’s worth sharing with the world. It’s something that speaks not only to him but, more importantly, to the individual who views it.

Louis Angel is an outsider artist whose painting career began in 2010 when he held his first group exhibition in the Hippodrome Building in New York City. This was the birthplace of Guerrilla Art Shows, an alter ego created by Louis Angel the art handler, curator and art show producer. Mr. Angel AKA Guerrilla Art Shows has been featured in the Superfine Art Fairs, New York City Artists for the Bronx at the West Chelsea Contemporary Gallery, The Triangle Loft in the Meat Packing District, Van Der Plas Gallery in the Lower East Side (to name a few) and online at Artland.com.

THANK YOU

Debbie Dickinson, Diane Smith, Kristopher Johnson-Hoyle, and Jose Zavala and the visionary artists Bryan LeBoeuf, Bill Buchman, Carol Calicchio Christopher von Hohenberg, David Richardson, Dominique Mulhem Douglas Dubler, Dragana Conaughton, Eva B. Gorson, Evan Sebastian Lagache, Geraldo Perez, Iran Issa Khan, Matt Stock, Michael McDyer and Michele Hall Parrish unite in heartfelt gratitude to our generous sponsors. Your unwavering support has brought our collective vision to life, and we are forever grateful for your commitment to spreading the message of emerging philosophies and boundless creativity throughout New York City and beyond. With your help, we strive to inspire, educate, and share the beauty of philanthropic art with the world at large. A special thank you to Perseus Gallery, Renat Safi n, Iana Safi n, Maria Safi n, Mike and Nina Dvorkin dedication to the arts has enabled us to activate sustainability with the arts and science in our new gallery alliance after many seasons at art fairs. We are honored to have you as our colleagues. Our sincerest thanks go out to Woods Hole Oceanic Institution – Jim Flynn, Dr. Beckett Coleson and Staff, Nobleman Publications- Ed Cortese, Kara Ellis, Connor Capps, Bang and Olufsen – Daniel Copeman, Schoolyard Films, Inc.- Tom Fitz, Dragana Connaughton, Glenn Allen, Katie Carpenter, Human Longevity – Anita Cosgrove, Kimberly Hotel – Mujo Perezic, Parthenon Framing – George and Joan Bubaris, HGU New York – Mike Namer and Shawn Roach, Blackbarn Restaurant – Executive Chef and Owner John Doherty, Vias Imports – Francisco Olivia, and Rachele Papi, Neuhaus Belgian Chocolate – Harriet Filippidis for your generosity and support. And a very special thank you to the talented artists and their friends and family, who have made this exhibition possible. To Diane Smith, Jason Grant, Katherine Sloan, Kristopher Johnson-Hoyle, Jose Zavala, Louis Angel, Juan Carlos Cedeno, Lanier Paredes, Roger Hernandez, Nikki Jax, K.C. Amable, NewYorkJoseph – Joseph Dalton, Douglas Dubler, Pedro Navarro, and Sarah Kehoe – the backbones of this exhibition – we extend our deepest thanks. Your contributions and dedication have been instrumental in bringing our collective vision to life. To anyone we may have inadvertently left out, please know that you are in our hearts and we thank you for your support. We invite all of our sponsors to visit us for a personal tour of the exhibition, where we can share our art and gratitude in person.

SPONSORS