Darryl Abraham
Original • Mixed Media • Rustic • Free Style
Darryl Abraham and his art are well known in the community of Naples, New York. His sculptures and drawings of farmhouses, stores, boats, and landscapes celebrate the history of the Finger Lakes region, and his artwork can be found on store signs and murals throughout the town. Abraham has taught at many colleges and universities around New York state, including as an adjunct instructor at Mansfield University, Cazenovia College, Wells College and Finger Lakes Community College; as well as most recently taking a visiting artist position at the American International School in Israel. He also ran a landscape business for several years, carrying on a family tradition of nurturing the land as encouraged by his parents, Doc & Katy Abraham, well-known for their nationally syndicated radio show, The Green Thumb. Since retiring, Darryl now concentrates full time on his art.
Testimonials
“His miniature scenes, especially one of a man, sitting on a swing, dare to provoke a human response. Call it nostalgia, in the case of a decaying hotel out of Erskine Caldwell. Or identification with the Earth, in the artist’s farm vignettes. But Abraham puts his materials —wood, metal, plastic, soil — at the service of something larger than the art object itself. Don’t be fooled by his primitive techniques, in their own way, the pieces are highly polished. ‘Scrupulous Realization,’ however, has not taken precedence over the transcendent quality of a past tradition.”
— Art Critic, The Chicago Tribune
“Abraham never seems constrained by any decorum regarding the media in which he works. This would seem to align him with many contemporary artists who find virtually any substance or material an acceptable medium for artistic expression: who, in fact, seek unusual combinations of materials in a quest for originality. Yet for Abraham, this eclecticism is more backward-looking than forward-looking. From his various materials, he fashions what might best be described as ‘tableaux’, three-dimensional scenes usually of rural life. The subjects of these tableaux are quaint. They show ordinary people involved in quotidian tasks, such as farming, fishing, maple sugaring, church-going or dancing at the local bar. The tone of the work is gently humorous but never ironic or condescending. The people and activities depicted are uplifting in their unaffected simplicity.”
— Owner, Oxford Gallery, 267 Oxford St., Rochester, NY
“In ‘Garden’, Darryl Abraham turns nature on its head. Jazzy, human-scaled metal renditions of trees and climbing vines are crowned with everything from a Blue Bird Inn to a pianist, with a wonderful witty jab at Chagall thrown in. Abraham’s expressive use of curling metal edges, fringes, and petals is matched by vivid, impressionistic dabs and swoops of paint…here the artist manages a nice balance between rococo exuberance, and formal restraint.”
— Art Critic, The Washington Post