New Artists, New Art Arrive In Glen Cove

Hersh Fine Art hosts an exhibition of work by New York Academy of Art alumni

Hersh Fine Art, a new gallery of contemporary art in Glen Cove, opens its doors this week to the public with its inaugural exhibition, “Fiction / Non-Fiction.” The exhibition will run through June 3. All are welcome to its opening reception, which is expected to draw a large and varied crowd, on Friday, April 20, from 6 to 8 p.m.

The gallery occupies a previously empty storefront space just across from City Hall, on Glen Street, bringing vital new energy to a beautiful and deserving area of the city.

“The Hersh gallery opening is very exciting,” says Debbie Kossoff, a longtime resident of Glen Cove and a student at the Long Island Academy of Fine Art, a classical art school located just next door to the gallery. “Since the gallery is located next to LIAFA, it not only offers a new opportunity for students to view fine professional art while also studying and making art themselves, but also creates a small downtown art district of sorts.”

Gallery Director Flora Armetta said her goal is to bring a fresh perspective to contemporary art on Long Island.

“I am looking not so much for artists who subscribe to a particular school or style of work as I am for a wide variety of artwork that is meaningful, she pointed out, adding “The work that I find beautiful is not only visually compelling but also communicates strong and exciting ideas.”

To that end, “Fiction/Non-Fiction” brings together a group of alumni from the New York Academy of Art. As exhibiting painter Steve Forster explains, “The act of seeing an object and trying to describe it in paint seems simple enough. But trying to translate its light, proportion of form, tone, its color and shape, and surrounding atmosphere onto canvas may be more complicated. Add to this a personal aesthetic and philosophical quest, which naturally develop over time for each painter, and the end result is a group of paintings that bridge two realities—the conceptual and the perceptual.”

The show’s title references these: the ideas and “fiction” that artists suggest through their work and the non-fictional, visible world they strive to represent. Armetta hopes that visitors to the gallery will enjoy the opportunity to engage with each of these artists and their stories.

For more information about Hersh Fine Art, please contact Flora Armetta at 646-508-7645 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The gallery’s website is www.hershfineart.com.