Tension and Tenderness | june 14 - july 12, 2025
Tension and Tenderness
In Tension and Tenderness: A Dual Narrative, viewers are invited into a dialogue between two compelling artistic voices—one bold and declarative, the other quiet and reflective. This duo exhibition explores the delicate interplay between opposing energies: intensity and subtlety, clarity and ambiguity, confrontation and calm.
Cheryl Gross presents assertive, graphic compositions that command attention. Her work is visually striking—layered, rhythmic, and unapologetic. Through deliberate contrasts and expressive form, she challenges the viewer to engage directly, to sit with tension, and to discover power in its most unfiltered state.
By contrast, Gürbüz Ekşioğlu draws us into an interior landscape. With restrained palettes and lyrical linework, his pieces create space for quiet observation. His visual language favors softness, patience, and emotional depth—inviting viewers to reflect rather than react, to feel rather than define.
Together, their works form a nuanced conversation—one that honors the full spectrum of expressive possibility. Tension and Tenderness reveals how strength can be subtle, and how restraint can carry force. It asks us to pause in the in-between—to consider contrast not as conflict, but as connection.
As you move through this exhibition, we invite you to experience this dual narrative as a meditation on balance, difference, and the harmony that can emerge when opposing energies meet and hold.
artists
Cheryl Gross
Brooklyn native Cheryl Gross is an illustrator, painter, writer and motion graphic artist living and working in the New York/New Jersey area. She is a professor at Pratt Institute.
Cheryl’s work has appeared in numerous films, TV shows, publications, and graces the walls of many corporate and museum collections including: Zebra Poetry Film Festival, Berlin, New York Times, Riverside Museum, Riverside, Ca., The Museum of The City of New York, Mississippi Museum of Art, Laforet Harajuku Museum, Tokyo, Japan, Artist-In-Residency, Kunstlerhaus, Saarbruken, Germany. Finalist Elizabeth Hulings Foundation, 2014, Artist-In-Residency Program, Dilsberg, Germany, 2015, four-time recipient Eileen Kaminsky Family Foundation Residency, Jersey City, 2018-2020, Art Fair 14c 2021-2023.
“The work, metaphorically travels through two different forms of representation: abstract and realism, thereby creating a narrative that embraces a socio-political point of view.”
Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu
Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu was born in Mesudiye, Ordu, Turkey. He graduated in 1979 from the Department of Graphic Arts at the State Faculty of Applied Fine Arts, now known as Marmara University’s Department of Graphic Design.
Over the course of his career, Ekşioğlu has received a total of 71 awards, including 27 international and 44 national honors, along with special recognitions from various institutions. Notably, he was awarded the 1997 Sedat Simavi Visual Arts Award and the 2022 Honorary Award from Art Contact Istanbul Contemporary Art Fair.
He has held 54 solo exhibitions, including 4 international shows, and his works have been featured in over 30 countries. His distinctive illustrations have appeared eight times on the cover of The New Yorker, as well as in Forbes, The New York Times (including the Real Estate supplement, Op-Ed page, and Book Review), among other prominent international publications.
A respected figure in the global illustration and visual arts community, Ekşioğlu has served as a jury member in numerous national and international competitions.
He currently teaches at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Yeditepe University and continues his artistic practice in his studio in Moda, Istanbul.
Most recently, his work was exhibited at L'Alliance New York as part of the centennial celebration of The New Yorker magazine.