New paintings by Christie Scheele on view in Rhinebeck

Christie Scheele’s Tender Reds, oil on linen, 30 x 72 inches

Painter Christie Scheele has been perfecting her art for the quarter-century that she has lived in the deep Catskills. Her new solo exhibit at the Albert Shahinian Gallery in Rhinebeck represents her 16^th year with the noted gallerist.

The artist’s “Contours/Distillations” show features the carefully abstracted landscapes for which she is known: ocean marshlands, vast skies and subtle horizon lines, misty mountains and dusky visions where car lights rise like epiphanies. Her work with colors and tone, shapes and mood has intensified over the years. Every piece shows the long time that she spends getting each bit right. It’s all about the lessons in what we see, and how we see.

“Delving further into the less-is-more discussion, I think that less is different,” Scheele writes about her new show. “If there are many details to look at in a painting, they tend to compete for attention, creating an experience that remains purely visual or intellectual without going deeper. With fewer elements and more open space, both the emotional and formal content have enormous impact, often visceral. At the same time what is there has to hold up under analysis, as there is no hiding.”

Scheele’s one of our region’s staying powers, a major artist of the Hudson Valley and Catskills. The show’s opening reception will be held on Saturday, July 25, from 5 to 8 p.m.

Christie Scheele’s “Contours/Distillations” exhibition at Albert Shahinian Fine Art, July 25 through September 20, Opening Saturday, July 25, from 5 to 8 p.m., artist talk at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 2, 22 East Market Street, Rhinebeck, (845) 876-7578, www.ShahinianFineArt.com or www.christiescheele.com.