what do art & peach martinis have in common?

Both are appearing at NOVO this week -

ask for the incredible "June in JH Restaurant Deal" with the peach martini ...

and come meet neighborhood artists:

Greg Stowell & Afzal Hossain

Opening Thursday June 24 from 6-9pm

NOVO - 37th ave between 78 & 79

Photography grabbed hold of Greg Stowell when he was a teenager, opening his eyes to the marvels to be found in the mundane, ordinary, everyday life. Much of the work he commenced to do exploited the potential offered by the aesthetic virtues of black & white images (and yes, he still uses film), allowing viewers to be readily transported to another place in our color world.

Neighborhood defining venues such as small businesses, coffee shops, and the like have been warmly enthusiastic hosts to his indirectly referential style of documentary photography. Through his work, they have enjoyed tantalizing allusions to their own immediate experience that readily draw them to places in their minds they have not regularly been.

Early years of life in the working class, bedroom community of Olathe, Kansas found Mr. Stowell was compelled to migrate to New York City, where today he is a resident of the borough of Jackson Heights, New York.

Afzal Hossain is a longtime resident of Jackson Heights and received his Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute and worked as a designer at Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

He later founded BANG Architecture and Design, focusing on small architecture, art, furniture and graphic design projects.

Afzal and his wife Julie Nymann created a space for people to meet and express their art at Espresso 77, an artisanal coffee bar in Jackson Heights which hosts the Gallery 77 program, a series of exhibitions of work by local artists and provides a venue for acoustic performances.

Afzal works explores memory and emotion searching for a universal truth. Early work evoked the nostalgia for family and life in Bangaldesh. Recent works define his new life in New York, the fascination with the way the human condition is affected by natural and cultural forces. Afzal’s paintings offer reflections on being an immigrant, infused with personal history and inspired by new surroundings and possibilities.

KUDOS to Ali and Richard who joined me on SUNDAY (remember Sunday? hot and sticky Sunday?!) for the Walking Tour of 37th Avenue Art Gallery where we viewed the 20 works along the avenue of local artists

click GOOGLE MAP HERE for list of stores and artists

and check them out until JUNE 27

and we will feature the remainder of the artists here at Community Communicato too

Thank you! for a great show to all the businesses and artists in this unique and unusual gallery

See you on the Avenue!