ROCKLAND — Gene Gnida’s solo painting show “Black and White” is on exhibit at Triangle Gallery, in Rockland, Maine from August 4 thru Sept 16, 2023.

Gene Gnida, born in the Bronx and growing up in New York, designed a house and saw it built at age 16. Receiving his Bachelor’s degree in History from Concordia University in Montreal, he was drawn to the world of art, sculpting in stone, bronze and wood. In the late sixties, Gnida’s sculptures were shown in Canadian galleries and Bell Canada sponsored a solo exhibition of Gnida’s work at the Montreal 1968 Expo.

In the early 1970s, Gnida studied with Ian Kirby, the renowned founder and director of the Kirby School of Design, and pursued a career as a furniture designer and woodworker. Fine Woodworking Magazine chose his work for publication in their Design Book Series in 1983. Gnida established Integrated Interiors, specializing in furniture and cabinetry in NYC after moving there with his wife, Talya Baharal, a jewelry designer.

Over the years, Gene and Talya’s collaboration spawned a sweeping influence on each other’s work. The artistic and personal relationship enhanced their intense curiosity and attraction for working with new forms, materials and techniques. They established Baharal-Gnida Design, in 1988. The confluence of Gnida’s creativity with sculptural forms and strong technical abilities as well as Baharal’s conceptual and design sense, impacted their individual and collaborative efforts.

“Baharal-Gnida Design evolved into highly respected and widely exhibited body of work,” said Triangle Gallery, in a news release.

Shifting his creative energies in the mid nineties, Gnida turned to clay, reconnecting with his sculptural roots. On the very first time Gnida showed his ceramic work at the American Craft Council in San Francisco, he was awarded Best of Show presented by the SF Museum of Folk and American Art!. Ceramics Monthly Magazine featured his work and he exhibit at galleries across the US including a solo show at Obsidian Gallery in Tuscon,  Arizona.

Always creatively driven, Gnida began painting in 2009 studying with Jenny Nelson and Meredith Rosier at Woodstock School of Art. Upon moving to Rockland, Maine he studied with Steve Aimone, taking workshops in Thomaston for several years. Currently in the Hudson Valley, Gnida’s commitment to painting continues in his studio in Kingston, New York. He acknowledges the influence of the the black and white paintings of Franz Klein, Motherwell and deKooning.