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"URBAN ABSTRACTION"

A Solo Exhibition by Don Hershman

“URBAN ABSTRACTION invites us to reconsider how we define art, how we observe our surroundings, and how beauty often lives in plain sight—just waiting to be noticed.”

— Don Hershman

Collection Mission & Vision

“URBAN ABSTRACTION” brings the unseen into sharp focus, reframing the overlooked industrial details of the contemporary cityscape as striking works of art.

Comprised of 19 meticulously crafted paintings on canvas and wood panel, the collection transforms ordinary fragments of daily urban life—pavement cracks, garage doors, graffiti textures, and aging building facades—into rich visual compositions that blur the line between the literal and the abstract.

By pulling what typically fades into the background directly into the foreground, this exhibition serves as an intentional exploration of finding unexpected beauty within our shared everyday environments.

Thematic Framework

The exhibition functions as a conceptual study of the modern environment, isolating and elevating raw, gritty architectural textures into high-art aesthetics.

Hershman masterfully blends pencil, ink, and acrylic to construct a complex material dialogue, mimicking the layered, weathered textures found across metropolitan infrastructures.

The 19 works challenge traditional landscapes by dismantling the cityscape into micro-abstractions, encouraging the audience to critically analyze the geometric patterns, lines, and textures they navigate daily.

Hosted at San Francisco’s MAG Galleries, this collection seamlessly bridges fine art and urban reality, demonstrating Hershman’s continuous evolution in shifting focus from pastoral architectural relics (I AM A BARN) to the vibrant, industrial geometry of modern city living.

Narrative, Value & Provenance

This series speaks directly to the sophisticated metropolitan collector. It offers a narrative of daily mindfulness and rediscovery, changing how a buyer physically perceives the world right outside their front door. It turns common elements—like a roll-up garage door or cracked asphalt—into elite, stylized focal points.

As an accomplished podiatric surgeon, Hershman’s innate professional connection to precision, structure, and spatial relations plays a heavy role here. He captures the chaotic infrastructure of a city and organizes it onto canvas and panel with clean, deliberate anatomical accuracy, injecting his trademark passion and subtle humor.

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Spatial & Emotional Impact

As highlighted in the collection showcases a spectacular variety of visual aesthetics. It transitions effortlessly from hyper-linear, vibrant green patterns to stark, monochromatic geometric configurations and graphic narrative compositions featuring pedestrians against patterned city walls.

The mixing of canvas and raw wood panels introduces a varied tactile layout, injecting a sense of movement and architectural texture directly onto the gallery walls.

The energy of the collection is undeniably electric, curious, and deeply engaging. It transforms the gallery space into a vibrant urban sanctuary, leaving viewers with a heightened, awakened state of environmental awareness long after they exit the exhibition.