NARROWSBURG, NY — River Gallery—The Art of Living will present Louis Pontone’s new collection, “Catskill Dreaming,” starting on Saturday, June 20 with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. The show will run through August 18.

In Pontone’s paintings, the strict representation of the seen world is never the goal; interpretation and self-expression point the direction the work will take. In the process, each painting takes on a life of its own. Working over the whole surface, Pontone’s technique involves altering and weaving the shapes, readjusting the colors and building up the textures. This pushing and pulling of the picture plane achieves a rich and highly developed work of art. Nothing seems final, though. Each painting is extended into the next. A passage rendered in one painting is often the starting point of another.

About his paintings, Pontone says: “New challenges force me to explore technical possibilities while remaining within the boundaries of realistic painting. Greater surface development and texture, losing and finding edges but somehow maintaining the integrity and crispness of some individual brush marks are a hallmark of my approach. My ambition is to turn these lyrical investigations of painting into visual poems - quiet, reflective and decorative... While I aspire that these landscape paintings by lyrical and decorative, subliminally they often carry over an indescribable ‘edge,’ which is an extension of my human nature. Each painting becomes a record and reflection of my personal vision.”