December 20, 2005 (Brooklyn, NY) - The Rotunda Gallery, at 33 Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights, presents Emotional Landscape, an exhibition of artists who understand the psychological power of place. The exhibition opens on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 with a reception from 6pm to 8pm and remains on view through Saturday, March 11. Guest curated by Paul Laster and Renée Riccardo, the exhibition is part of the Rotunda Gallery's Curatorial Initiative Program.

Exploring the visual realms of dreams, recollections, and fantasies, Emotional Landscape presents the work of twelve artists and artist teams. Situating their narratives around forests, deserts, mountains, and seas, they create a sense of mystery with representational imagery of a slightly strange sort. Working in collage, drawing, watercolor, painting, sculpture, photography, and video, these artists express individual sentiments in unexpected ways. Join us on Wednesday, February 1st at 7:00 pm for Yoga in the Moment, a free public program held in conjunction with the exhibition. Taught by Jane Selzer, a certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor, this slow-paced class, designed to increase inner awareness, will include breathing exercises, yoga postures, and a guided meditation. The event is free, but reservations are required: 718-875-4047 x11.

Paul Laster is an editor at Art Asia Pacific, Artkrush.com and Boldtype.com. Renée Riccardo is an independent curator who founded ARENA, a gallery exhibiting emerging artists from 1991-2003. Laster and Riccardo are former Adjunct Curators of Photography at P.S.1. Their recent shows include Word at the Bronx River Arts Center and Me, Myself & I at Florida Atlantic University Gallery, Boca Raton. A concurrent show, It's a Beautiful Day, is on view at the Ise Cultural Foundation Gallery in SoHo from January 6 through February 25, 2006.

Emotional Landscape is part of the Rotunda Gallery's Curatorial Initiative Program, which supports new and emerging curators and provides opportunities for them to realize their vision in a professional gallery setting. The program is supported by the Lori Ledis Memorial Fund, named for the respected member of the New York arts community and long-time supporter of the Rotunda Gallery. Previous exhibitions selected through the Curatorial Initiative have included A Slow Read (2004) curated by Katarina Wong, and Decipher: Hand-Painted Digital (2005), curated by Yasufumi Nakamori.

Exhibiting artists include:

Megan Cump's photographs suggest a sense of mystery, depicting fertile environments such as backyards and greenhouses at night. Seeing them as places to escape, explore, and lose oneself, the artist mixes a sense of wonder with one of vertigo.

Satoru Eguchi sees the world around him through an inner eye, where fragments of reality get tossed ashore and caught in a visual vortex. Using colored pencils, Eguchi makes flowers and houses dream on the same page.

Anthony Goicolea is a master of digital photographic manipulation, creating seamlessly surreal landscapes. Playing God, at least metaphorically, he makes nature work to his mysterious ends.

Elizabeth Huey constructs storybook fantasies from historical facts, while mixing and matching elements as though naively traveling through time with brush, paint, and canvas.

Min Kim's works on paper expose tales of innocence with skill and ingenuity, where paint and graphite coalesce into pure thought. Nature encompasses her prepubescent girls, presenting Eden from a child's point of view.

Margaret Lee revisits youthful days when teenage packs would roam the landscape seeking monumental gathering spots to party and leave their mark. With a steady brush and a sly sense of humor, she presents nature with man's fingerprint.

Charlene Liu works under the influence of Kung-Fu movies, Western comic books, and traditional Chinese landscapes, mapping out a narrative in watercolor that delights as it provokes our curiosity for play.

Jon Rosenbaum constructs miniature paper sculptures of natural scenes and make-believe creatures that look like three-dimensional drawings and possess a sense of fantasy.

Lisa Sanditz's landscapes are visions of hallucinatory colors and forms, where representation and abstraction nudge one another on a painterly plane.

Erika Somogyi's drawings and watercolors are visual collages, where intricate patterns, bright colors, and rich sunlight collide to create a dreamy, cinematic scene.

Diana Shpungin and Nicole Engelmann's videos record the intimate behavior of best friends and arch rivals. The video here captures the identically dressed duo lying across rural train tracks-anxiously awaiting their fate.

Michelle Weinberg rearranges the visible world with cut-and-paste props and players, fields of color, and a spark in her eye. Juxtaposing lively bits, she fashions a landscape of new possibilities.

THE ROTUNDA GALLERY, an award-winning not-for-profit exhibition space, has exhibited the work of over 2,000 artists - from Brooklyn's most exciting emerging talents to its most prominent artists. Each year, the Gallery's innovative arts education program provides services to over 9,000 New York City students. THE ROTUNDA GALLERY is a project of BRIC/BROOKLYN INFORMATION AND CULTURE, an organization founded to present cultural, educational, and informational programs that enhance the quality of life for residents of Brooklyn.