Margaret Tsirantonakis Exhibition at Prince Street Gallery

In the Purple Studio by
Margaret Tsirantonakis

Story by Carolee Ross

In a recent statement, Margaret Tsirantonakis, whose exhibition, Recent Paintings, closes on March 23 at the Prince Street Gallery, wrote about her work:

 

"My paintings reflect both what I see around me and visual memories of what I have seen. I'm interested in the interplay between the object and its surrounding environment. Color plays a major role in my painting. I have tried to synthesize the influence of Matisse and Bonnard. I've also been inspired by the light of Chania, Crete (my birthplace) where I have made many on site intimate watercolor/gouaches.

I knew I wanted to be an artist from a young age. "

Very much like one of her influences, Margaret Tsirantonakis' work reminds viewers that her work is also "an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue," (as stated a century ago by fauve painter and master colorist, Henri Matisse).


 

Margaret Tsirantonakis
in her studio

The artist is known for her intense use of color, especially via areas built with small brushmarks and close values. Her often complex compositions—typically of sunlit interiors of rooms bathed in manipulated light, form and focus to create color-strewn scenes of everyday life. The result is both an opening up of perspective space and a bringing forward of the more coloristic background to the picture plane.

 

 

  

   Margaret Tsirantonakis, Returning from Chania, still life II., 18" x 18", 2012  

 

Tsirantonakis' works bear a well-ordered sense of space and solidity. Their authoritative evocation of color and structure give her a reputation for being a master of the contemplative.

 

The Prince Street Gallery is located at 530 West 25th Street 4th Floor,  New York, NY 10001,Phone: 646.230.0246. Hours for the closing reception are from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

 

PRINCE STREET GALLERY represents contemporary figurative and abstract artists.  The gallery first opened its doors on Prince Street in SoHo in 1970. Prince Street Gallery originally emerged out of the Alliance of Figurative Artists and continues to broaden from its roots.  During its founding years the gallery received encouragement from The New York State Council on the Arts in the form of grants, supporting exhibitions, and a catalogue.  In 1980, the gallery moved to Wooster Street where it remained until 2001 when it reopened at 530 West 25th Street in Chelsea.

Margaret Tsirantonakis' work has been included in numerous exhibitions throughout the Northeast. Her paintings were included in the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, MA exhibition "Off the Beaten Track: Contemporary Mindscapes" as well as in "The Elements Earth" exhibition in the Gallery of ContemporaryArt, Sacred Heart University, CT. She has had solo exhibitions at the Rich Forum's Richard & Hinda Rosenthal Gallery, Stamford, CT; the Stamford Museum, and H. Pelham Curtis Gallery in the New Canaan Library, CT. Her art has been selected for the Silvermine Guild Arts Center's :Art of the Northeast, CT"; the Stamford Museum's "New Art Annual", the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT"; "Icons of the 21st Century, LAB Gallery, NYC, and New York University's "Small Works Show", NYC. She has been awarded the "Winsor & Newton" Prize at the "Annual Faber Birren Color Show". Her work is represented in corporate and private collections in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Margaret was born in Crete, Greece. She is a graduate of the High School of Art& Design, NYC, and Parsons School of Design, NYC where she received her BFA. In 2007 she participated in the New York Studio School's "Drawing Marathon" in NYC.