Janet Sobel and Ashley Shapiro: Spiritual Connection
April 5 - May 21, 2022
The Cabin
In reaction to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, James Barron Art is pleased to present an exhibition of Janet Sobel and her granddaughter and Ashley Shapiro. Sobel emigrated to the US from Ukraine in 1908, and Sobel and Shapiro’s art stands as a testimony to the triumph of artistic freedom after political suppression.
Janet Sobel made a tremendous mark on the art world in the 1940s. Her drip paintings, which were exhibited at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery in 1946, were seen by Jackson Pollock and Clement Greenberg, and were part of the artistic circle surrounding the formation of the Jackson Pollock drip. America in the 1940s was a melting pot of immigrants from all over the world, and the duration of that creative spirit is seen today in this body of work by Janet Sobel and Ashley Shapiro, who notes that “Gramma and I connected spiritually and I feel that I’ve carried her essence into my own life and art.” Shapiro’s work is deeply spiritual, and conveys messages of healing and hope, which resonate more than ever as the crisis in Ukraine unfolds.