New Art Exhibit Features Life and Fantasy: Artworks by Craig Petreikis and Elinur Danon

The Rise Gallery presents Life and Fantasy: Artworks by Craig Petreikis and Elinur Danon. The exhibit takes viewers on visual journeys of creative exploration through a variety of subject matter from music, pets, and travel, to personalities, pattern designs, and more. Life and Fantasy is on view in the gallery through Dec. 6, 2024. The Rise Gallery is located at the SUNY Schenectady Center for the Arts, 13 State St., across from campus.

Gallery Hours are:
Monday and Wednesday: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Friday: 9 a.m. -1 p.m.
Saturday: 12:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Life and Fantasy: Artworks by Craig Petreikis and Elinur Danon, organized by The Rise Gallery's Director and Curator Stephen J. Tyson, features pieces produced with acrylic, oil, canvas, paper, aluminum, and wood. Each artist strives to create a bridge between the worlds of the living experience and fantasy through the powerful agency of artistic skill and creative imagination. 

Union Square by Craig Petreikis

Sam at Jose Marti International by Craig Petreikis

Cynthia and Bella by Craig Petreikis

Animal Caravan by Elinur Danon

Earth by Elinur Danon

Cats' Love by Elinur Danon

About the artists:

Craig Petreikis began drawing when he was very young and fell in love with the human form. He started the Electric City Arts Contest in 2020 in order to help promote art of all types in the greater Schenectady area. He was one of the organizers of Gallery 5 Schenectady, currently operating as a Pop-Up gallery, and his latest project is a revival of Art Night Schenectady, a monthly Third Friday Downtown Schenectady showcase for local artists. Awards: Stockade Villager’s Outdoor Art Show 2021-Best in show-First Place for “Cynthia and Bella” oil on canvas; Stockade Villager’s Outdoor Art Show 2022- Best in show-Second Place for “Abstract Face #2” plywood; Arkell Regional Juried Art Show-2023-Exhibitor, “G.I. Joe”; and he was a Juror for ‘Art for the View’, the 2024 Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation.

“I love to combine the human form with color and perspective and enjoy playing with balancing these aspects into something I think is interesting. As an artist, I currently work with aluminum cans, oil on canvas, plywood sculpture, and curved canvas, but plan to explore other sculpture mediums as well. I live in the Stockade, spending much of my time at the Moon and River Cafe, where I enjoy an active art community, including painting, and music.”  

Elinur Danon is a contemporary abstract artist that seeks to create dynamic pieces with powerful colors and contrast, primarily using acrylic paint. “I have always been drawn to the wonderful and mysterious world of abstract art. Each of my works is a new creation. A creation of personal combinations, unexpected or impossible looks, mounted on a smooth, clean substrate, I create what ‘I feel inside.’ The added beauty in most of these creations is that the orientation of the piece is entirely up to its owner, with different angles allowing for different effects to be perceived in the art - an optical illusion of sorts. As such, the art can change with the mood of its owner. I aim to make people deeply excited and enlightened, looking at my works. I would like them to feel as I do, something of my excitement and elation.”