The Chazan Gallery at Wheeler is pleased to present “Paint and Steel” featuring new work by Irene Lawrence and Jerry Ehrlich from November 20 to December 10, 2008. There will be an opening on Gallery Night Thursday, November 20 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The public is invited.

Irene Lawrence, an accomplished abstract painter, will be exhibiting new paintings that are a development of her exploration focused on color. Building texture with varying thicknesses of application, her paintings display a bold use of richly pigmented paints. The rhythm of her paintings vary -- lively brushstrokes that dance across the canvas gives rise to carefully considered poetic marks. Lawrence’s new works present a language in abstraction that is approachable and engaging.

Irene Lawrence is a painter who was born in California and grew up on Long Island, New York. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design and now lives and works in Providence. She has exhibited widely in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York, most notably in three solo exhibitions at Steven Harris Architects in New York City. Lawrence is honored as an American Abstract Painter and has work in several public collections including the Addison Gallery of American Art in Massachusetts, the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University and at the Museum of Art in at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Using construction site detritus as his sculptural material of choice, Jerry Ehrlich bends, hammers, re-forms and re-appropriates these otherwise disregarded materials into new and interesting forms. Ehrlich reminds us that “a pipe is a container and conduit” when we see that he has spread and shaped a pipe into a sleek wide-mouth vessel. The resulting form remains a container, but through Ehrlichs’ manipulation has transgressed into a new form with a new function . Similarly, Ehrlich has seen the function of the structural building material know as rebar, but has stretched its form and function into something new. Assisted by the golden mean, Ehrlich draws with the rebar creating sculptures that twist and turn as three-dimensional lines spiraling in space.

Jerold Ehrlich is a sculptor who lives in Rhode Island. His work has been exhibited throughout Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York. He has worked in collaboration with local arts non-profit, The Steel yard. His work can be seen at the Dorchester Hotel in London, England.

Chazan Gallery at Wheeler is located at 228 Angell Street in Providence. Gallery hours: 12 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday. The gallery is closed on Mondays. (401) 421-9230 www.chazangallery.org