New Hope Sidetraks Gallery will presnt "So Different”, an exhibit of very personal approaches to painting by Steven Evans of New Hope and Philadelphia, and by Richard Gabriele of Langhorne from May 2 – June 14. An artist reception for Mr. Evans and Mr. Gabriele and their fans and friends will take place at Sidetracks on May 2 from 6 – 9 p.m.

Since his days at Central Bucks High School, Mr. Evans has considered himself a painter, rooted in Bucks County but already feeling a part of Philadelphia city life and its arts community. Moore, University Arts and the Academy were his workshops (together with a summer excursion to Pratt in Brooklyn). He returned to the Academy of Fine Arts for his degree, reveling in its self-directed studio approach, and for the past few years now has been honing his craft and toning his colors toward his current body of work. Much of this had been distilled into the works on view at Sidetracks. The majority of these new paintings share a relatively limited palette of six colors straight from the tube.

Mr. Gabriele’s new studio was a family project as he worked side by side with his carpenter father. Filled with sunlight, the structure illuminates the subtle colors and sure lines of his framed artworks on plank walls. His current works on paper, large and small, are influenced by remembered Pacific sunsets glimpsed through ocean fog. Watercolor washes bring out the individual textures of carefully chosen hand-made papers from Japan, China and other corners of the world. Over this multi-color base, he works his magic with egg tempera paintings – exotic birds with personalities, graceful shaped vessels, the precise architecture of animal bones. A selection from this body of work will be on view at Sidetracks. A graduate in fine arts and art history from Haverford College, he completed his master’s degree in painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He followed those studies with independent research in The Netherlands, England, Italy and at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Hirschhorn Museum collections of Morris Graves’ paintings in Washington, D.C.

 New Hope Sidetracks Art Gallery neighbors the New Hope Arts Center at 2A Stockton Ave., where Bridge Street meets the railroad tracks. Hours are: Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday, 11am – 6 pm.; Saturday. 11am – 8pm. Celebrating Second Saturdays in New Hope from 6-9 pm. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information, call 215 862 4586 or email sidetracksart@verizon.net