From the Former Eastern Bloc, Wielding Color

SOON after entering the common studio space at the Universitatea de Arta si Design in Cluj Napoca, Romania, Livia Straus spotted a dreadlocked young man working alone in a corner. “All of his canvases were facing the wall,” recalled Ms. Straus, the director and co-founder with her husband, Dr. Marc Straus, of the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill. “And, of course, if a canvas is facing the wall, I want to see it.”

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