New Work

Pretty In Pink
Paper Collage on Panel
16" x 16"
2011

Artists Summer Institute (ASI)

I have been selected to attend the Artists Summer Institute (ASI), which is a free, five-day professional development intensive for 55 New York City artists working in all disciplines, offered through a partnership of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Creative Capital.

Held at Building 110: LMCC’s Arts Center at Governors Island, the Artists Summer Institute offers a unique opportunity for artists to step outside their daily routines and focus on their professional skills and artistic goals in bucolic, community setting. The Institute combines the best of LMCC’s Basic Finance for Artists program and Creative Capital’s Professional Development Program (PDP) to provide a more comprehensive range of training, tools and resources for working artists. The Institute is designed to help artists build a path to greater sustainability and self-sufficiency. Participants will receive arts-focused professional training in the areas of strategic planning, verbal communications, marketing and promotion, Internet optimization, financial management and business planning.

Full Circle at Sara Nightingale Gallery

New work to be included in a group show at Sara Nightingale Gallery in Water Mill, NY (The Hamptons).

The opening reception of Full Circle is on Saturday, June 4th from 6 - 8 p.m.

The exhibition is both a roundup and a reunion, and will emphasize the geometric form whose locus of points is equidistant from a given point. Among the highlights and new to the gallery is Barry Underwood, from Cleveland, Ohio, whose photograph, Parade Field is a documentation of an installation he created in the Headlands Center for the Arts during a residency there. Barry recently won a Focus Project award as well as the Cleveland Arts Prize. Alicia Lachance, also new to the gallery from St. Louis, will be appearing in the upcoming Midwest Edition of New American Paintings. The jurors were Julie Rodrigues Widhom and Pamela Alper, curators from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Glenn Fischer of NYC uses paper from vintage books and magazines that he finds in thrift stores to construct his collages.

Artists in Full Circle include:

Malin Abrahamsson
Bill Armstrong
Peter Buchman
Perry Burns
Michael Chiarello
Eric Dever
Cara Enteles
Glenn Fischer
Grant Haffner
Yong Jo Ji and Anna Anatasova
James Jennedy
Alicia Lachance
Christian Little
Christa Maiwald
Karyn Mannix
Alexis Martino
Steve Miller
Lindsay Morris
Vlad Po
Maggie Simonelli
Joseph Stabilito
Barry Underwood
Jeremy Wagner
Gus Yero

New Work

Swing Tall
Paper Collage on Panel
24" x 24"
2011

Open Studio

On Saturday May 14th and Sunday May 15th from 11 am to 5 pm, the public is invited to view the studios and art with the artists at the 8th Annual YoHo Artists Spring Open Studios.

The YoHo Artists Studios are located at 540 Nepperhan Avenue and 578 Nepperhan Avenue, and 222 Lake Avenue in Yonkers, NY, in the former Alexander Smith Carpet Mills Building, an historic landmark. This thriving community of more than three dozen artist...s is one of the largest artist communities in the Greater New York area.

Many of the YoHo Artists are gallery-affiliated and have exhibited internationally. The artists will open their studio doors, giving the public a rare opportunity to learn about their artistic process, from painting to photography, textile art to sculpture, collage to installation. Many of the artists works are for sale at studio prices.

The 8th Annual YoHo Artists Spring Open Studios 2011 is a two day free event open to the public, galleries, museums, journalists, students, scholars, and collectors. There is plenty of free parking in the rear of the YoHo Artists Studios building, and a Municipal Parking Lot with meters across Nepperhan Ave.

I'm located in studio #510, on the 5th floor at 578 Nepperhan Avenue.

Hope to see you there!

New Work

A House for Happy
Collage on Panel
24" x 24"
2011

Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage

I'm happy to announce that my work has been published along with other amazing artists and illustrators in the book Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage from the publisher Gestalten (Germany).

In a visual journey this publication explores the rise and the new ways of representation of Collage in the contemporary art world.
You can purchase the book here.

Adam Lister Gallery – Group Show

I have two pieces of work included in a group show titled "Unfamiliar Territories" at the Adam Lister Gallery, Jan 14, 2011 - Feb 21, 2011.

Press Release:

Adam Lister Gallery is pleased to present our first exhibition of 2011, a group show featuring 15 artists, titled “Unfamiliar Territories”.

This exhibit brings together a group of artists that have a common ground of questioning our perceptions of the world within their work. Through modifying, investigating, and engaging in exploration for the purpose of discovery, each artist has formulated their own unique system of communication. The work in this show treads a fine line on the border of reality and imagination, incorporating elements and attributes from both sides. Visual language for these artists is not only a transmission of personal culture, but also a window into alternative views of the universe.

The artists exhibiting in “Unfamiliar Territories”, view the world through a combination of comparisons, calculations, schemes, concepts and recipes. They take the familiar and the obvious, and through a process of reformulation, present it as curious and unfamiliar. This reinterpretation defines itself as a pure, non-functional object introduced into the world through the mind and eyes of the artist.

Artists: Anna Jane Kocon, Bobby Coleman, Chris Duerk, Craig Hill, Eric Bos, Gail Vollrath, Geoff Ault, Glenn Fischer, Gwynneth VanLaven, Michelle Valenton, Phillip Scarpone, Sabine Carlson, Stephanie Rond, Steve Wanna, Travis Childers

For questions:
Email - adamlistergallery@gmail.com
T#- 646.263.7305

Adam Lister Gallery
3950 University Drive
*entrance on North St between University Dr. and Rt.123
Fairfax VA 22030

Studio News

So I finally figured out how to download an interior shot of my new studio space from my Sprint phone. Enjoy!

The Year in Art

The Year in Art

Artistaday

Local artists get creative to bring in buyers - The Riverdale Press

Local artists get creative to bring in buyers - The Riverdale Press

Studio Sweet Studio

I picked up the keys to my art studio this past week on Thursday. While I don't have photos yet to post of the interior space, I did snag one showing what it looks like from the outside.

The studio itself is in the YOHO Center for the Arts, located in Yonkers, NY, in a vibrant and dynamic renovated former carpet factory building. It has a really large window, about a 16' ceiling and gray wood floors. It's essentially a loft space I guess and has that nice strong industrial feel to it.

The building itself is a growing community of almost 50 painters, mixed media, sculptors, and other artists and it looks like open studios are a regular occurrence. In fact, there is one scheduled on Sunday, November 14th from 11-6 PM. I'm not sure I will be moved in by then but my door will be open. Not going to miss an opportunity like that! I'm in Studio #510 on the 5th floor of 578 Nepperhan Avenue if anyone wants to stop by!

Over the next week or so I will concentrate my efforts on moving myself in. As for the direction my work will now take, I still haven't a clue, but I'm excited to find out. I decided to hit some thrift stores today to see if I can find some old books to help inspire me. Found this great online thrifting community which has a national thrift store directory!

I have to say I feel truly grateful for this new space to work in. It seemed to have happened suddenly and organically, which feels like the Universe has had (and still does) it's hand in all of this.

Studio Hunt

I recently made the decision to find new studio and who knew that trying to find space in this economic climate would prove to be such a challenge.

Sure, the prices are down a little but so is the inventory, and what I've seen so far isn't making me feel all that warm and fuzzy inside. With me it's all about the energy within the space (and of course the monthly rent) that ultimately helps me to make my decision. Distance is also a factor because I don't want to be wasting time traveling to/from if I don't have to.

On Saturday I checked out a couple in Brooklyn, both on Morgan St. The first one, while located in a great artist building, was basically a renovated art cave. It's only allure was perhaps the central AC which would certainly come in handy during the summer months. The second placed I looked at was decent enough and would have probably worked out had I not been too late to see it.

On Sunday I headed to YOHO Arts which is located in Yonkers in an old factory, which in and of itself is very cool. Was shown another art cave, though this one was much larger. Then I saw a much larger space with three windows (at which I drooled and dreamed about) and then another decent size space with one window. Unfortunately the cost is a factor with the last one I mentioned. So, the search continues.

Checking out a studio in Harlem maybe this week, not far from the studio space I had back in 2007 on 106th St. I know the neighborhood well, the price per square foot is fairly reasonable but I haven't seen any photos online so who knows what I'm in for. Plus I'm looking to be in a larger, well established artists building if possible.

So, stand by for more updates... and if you are reading this and know of any available space out there in the NYC area please let me know!

Book Release

Gestalten Publishing - a book publisher specialized in art and design books - is in the process of researching for a new book compilation about contemporary collage. The book will be co-edited by James Gallagher, who organized the Cutters exhibition in New York a while ago. They saw my work and contacted me to say they would be happy to feature it in the book. (Hell Yeah!) Release of the book is due to take place in Spring 2011. (I'll keep you posted)

I recently started realizing just how much of an opportunity this book release is... not only to introduce my work to a much larger audience, but also for me to start engaging with my creative self by producing physical work again.

Opportunities come and go throughout our life.

Sometimes we are afraid where they will take us, so we do nothing and let them pass us by. Other times we risk engaging with the possibly they seem to offer, step out of our comfort zone, and discover a part of ourselves we never knew existed. And still other times, we participate in the opportunity presented and end up loosing everything.... or so it seems.

A good friend once told me that every mistake in life is an opportunity for us to grow. If we adopt that perspective, we have nothing to lose.

I will not let this opportunity slip through my hands!