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Spring’s arrival signals a time of profound significance – a reminder of the inherent beauty in growth, transformation, and the promise of new beginnings. At New Visionary Magazine, we’re continuing to expand our publication with a commitment to increasing visibility for artists, and are proud to announce media partnerships with The Affordable Art Fair and Superfine in New York City.
For this issue, we’re excited to collaborate with Alfred González, Director of Gallery 71 and accomplished photographer. His keen vision and dedication to diverse perspectives greatly enhance our publication, weaving a rich tapestry of inspiration and insight.
As always, we’re tremendously grateful for your continued support.
Xo Victoria
VICTORIA J. FRY she/her Editor in Chief
Victoria J. Fry is a New York City-based painter, educator, curator, and the founder of Visionary Art Collective and New Visionary Magazine. Fry’s mission is to uplift artists through magazine features, exhibitions, podcast interviews, and mentorship. She earned her MAT from Maine College of Art & Design and her BFA from the School of Visual Arts.
victoriajfry.com
victoriajfry
BLAIR BEUSMAN she/her Head Writer
Blair Beusman is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. She graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in literary theory. She has worked for a variety of cultural publications and organizations, including The New Yorker, Literary Hub, and PEN America.
VALERIE AUERSPERG she/her Graphic Designer + Artist Liaison
Valerie Auersperg is a self-taught artist, illustrator and designer living in Auckland, New Zealand. She describes her work as a dose of optimism with a sprinkle of escapism. When she is not painting on canvases or walls she works as a graphic designer and illustrator for companies in New Zealand, Switzerland, Austria and the U.S.
blairharr.tumblr.com
blair.beu
valerism.com iamvalerism
BRITTANY M. REID they/them
WriterBrittany M. Reid is a visual artist, creative strategist, and educator based in Upstate NY. Reid’s work explores the wide spectrum of nuanced human emotion through paper collages and acrylic paintings. When working with clients, they bridge the gap between art and technology, helping artists build digital fluency and develop sustainable creative practices.
brittanymreid.com brittany.m.reid
SUSO BARCIELA he/him
WriterSuso Barciela, an art historian and critic, specializes in curating and coordinating exhibitions. He was trained at the University of Seville and the NODE Center in Berlin. His expertise in art criticism and cultural dissemination is reflected in his collaborations with national and international magazines. He has worked with international artists and is renowned for his blog “El Espacio Aparte” where he analyzes art and exhibitions in Seville and Madrid.
elespacioaparte.com forms.follow.function
ERIKA B. HESS she/her
WriterErika b Hess is a painter, curator, writer, and host of the I Like Your Work art podcast. Hess’s work has been exhibited nationally and featured in numerous publications. She lectures at various colleges and institutions while teaching at The Works, I Like Your Work’s professional practice membership.
www.erikabhess.com erikabhess
VERONICA PETTY she/her Director of Media Partnerships
Veronica Petty is a PR professional and art advisor in NY. With a decade of marketing experience, she’s managed successful campaigns for AAF, PULSE Art Fair, Create!, KUNSTRAUM, VAC, and many individual artists and exhibitions. Veronica champions Latinx artists through Domingo Comms; featured in artnet, House Beautiful, and more. She’s currently VAC’s Director of Media Partnerships.
domingocomms.com domingocomms
CHUN PARK they/them
WriterChunbum Park, also known as Chun, is an artist/writer, who received their MFA in Fine Arts Studio from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2022. Park’s main area of interest or focus lies within figurative painting, but they are also enthusiastic about all types of art, including performance and photography. Park wishes to promote emerging and mid-career artists who pioneer strong, original visions and ideas.
www.chunbumpark.com chun.park.7
EMMA HAPNER she/her
Administrative Assistant
Emma Hapner is a New York City based artist and educator working primarily in oil on canvas to create figurative works that reclaim the language of classical painting from a woman’s perspective. She graduated from the New York Academy of Art with her MFA in 2022.
www.emmahapner.com emmagracehapner
www.chunbumpark.com chun.park.7
Chunbum Park, also known as Chun, was born in South Korea in 1991. They received their B.F.A. in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in 2020 and their M.F.A. in Fine Arts Studio from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2022, where they changed their pronouns. Assigned male at birth, Park likes to cross dress and depicts themselves as a woman in their paintings. They are the inventor of the ArtBid art-auction card game and run the Emerging Whales Collective (currently merged with the Office Space Gallery website), where they interview other artists. In 2023, Park began writing exhibition reviews for various online and print magazines, including New Visionary Magazine. They currently reside in Palisades Park, New Jersey.
Unable to transition my gender due to pressure from family and society, I repeatedly paint myself as a woman. Through painting, I explore my own feminine energy, my desires, and the beauty of the feminine.
In my recent work, female figures exist in the forest or the water, which are metaphorical safe spaces where I can be myself. Oftentimes, the figures are nude, celebrating the body and conveying the idea of a space in which intimacy is possible.
I experienced a feeling both similar and opposite to the “penis envy” described by Sigmund Freud: I desired female breasts, which I myself lacked, and I felt that the male sexual organs were like an alien octopus latched onto my pelvis. From a young age, I pretended to dislike girls, even though I wanted to become one myself; I would secretly draw other girls as me (and throw the images away in fear of being found out.)
The racialization of beauty that is addressed by Shirley Anne Tate—the social and cultural process of making white beauty the iconic beauty—is another important topic for me. It can be seen in Japanese anime, which depicts Northeast Asians with white features, as well as in Hollywood movies.
I try to find the cure with anti-racist aesthetics, which seek the original beauty prior to racialization. Through painting, I seek a hybrid kind of beauty, depicting myself with faces that are truer to Northeast Asians’ appearance but with ample breasts and hips that are said to be rarer among Northeast Asian women. The contradiction between the body and the face lends hybridity to my work and situates my paintings somewhere between the aesthetics of the East and the West.
www.erikabhess.com erikabhess
Erika b Hess is a painter, the Artistic Director of Visual Arts at Chautauqua Institution, and the host of the art podcast I Like Your Work. Hess’s work has been exhibited nationally, including in New York City, Detroit, Los Angeles, Boston, and Philadelphia. She had a solo exhibition last year at Marietta College (Marietta, Ohio) and was recently included in group shows at Bridgette Mayer Gallery (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Contemporary Art Matters (Columbus, Ohio), and MASH Gallery (Los Angeles, California).
Hess has been featured in various publications, including Boston University’s CFA magazine, Art New England, Artscope Magazine, All SHE Makes, and New Visionary magazine. She frequently lectures at colleges and universities, including Wellesley University, Pratt Institute, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, The University of Montana, Missouri State University, Eastern Michigan University, Ohio State University, Kenyon College, and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Hess has curated and juried various exhibitions, publications, and awards, including Create! Magazine, Friend of the Artist, Cambridge Art Association (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Gallery 263 (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Arts to Hearts, and Riffe Gallery (Columbus, Ohio). She has served on panels at SCOPE (Miami, Florida), the Cleveland Institute of Art, and Boston University.
Hess maintains an active studio practice in Columbus, Ohio, and in Long Island City, New York, where she keeps a selected inventory of work. She is represented by Contemporary Art Matters in Columbus, Ohio.
Hess received her M.F.A. from Boston University.
I paint because I am a woman who is lost. I do not mind being lost; I prefer to seek and discover what we can experience in small, cloaked moments. We spot a reflection in a puddle and see our world in a two-dimensional mirror rooted to the earth—the sky on the ground, our face at our feet.
My paintings are mystical landscapes that communicate emotions and experiences through the vibrant language of color, anchoring themselves in the recurring motif of puddles. Puddles, symbolizing emotions and experiences, are fleeting pools of water that mirror their surroundings. They materialize with the rain and vanish just as swiftly, paralleling the impermanence of human experience. Puddles also serve as metaphors for our past and future. They tend to form in the same location, etching impressions in the environment, much like how our experiences deepen pathways within our psyche. In the realm of Jungian psychology, water symbolizes the subconscious—a domain where the surface often conceals hidden depths. I draw inspiration from Jung’s assertion that “water means spirit that has become unconscious.” My art delves into this uncharted spirit, abstractly painting the water’s surface to evoke movement while hinting at the enigmatic depths beneath.
Encompassing the puddles is what I term “The Wilderness,” a realm teeming with intense and multifaceted experiences. This wilderness may embody danger, the pursuit of spiritual transcendence, renewal, or a place of introspection. It’s within the interplay between the puddle and the wilderness surrounding it that the emotions and tension I aim to convey take root.
As part of our ongoing interview series, we chat with artists, curators, entrepreneurs, authors, and educators. Through these interviews we can gain a deeper understanding of the contemporary art world.
in conversation with Emma Hapner
www.alfredgonzalezphotography.com alfredgonzalezphoto
www.gallery71.com gallery71nyc
You’re known for your award-winning black-and-white photography. What first drew you to working in this medium?
It’s funny, when I was about twelve, my older brother taught me how to develop film and print in the darkroom, before I ever used a camera, all in black and white. My dad, who was an amateur photographer, used to take me out around the city with him on the weekends and share his cameras until I was able to buy my own. I was shooting black-and-white Tri-X film and then developing pictures at the Jefferson Park Boys Club in Spanish Harlem, where I grew up. I was about fourteen years old at the time. At sixteen, I bought my first camera and continued to shoot with black-andwhite film for the most part. I couldn’t wait to get into the darkroom to develop and print. Today it’s still the same as I develop film almost every morning. I love the tonal range of black-and-white photographs and their simplicity without the distraction of color.
Your photographs feature scenes of everyday life, many of which take place in New York or Paris. How do you capture these moments? Do you plan a specific shoot, or are they more spontaneous?
The majority of my photos are spontaneous, even though I approach my subjects and speak with them a bit to put them at ease and make them comfortable with my photographing them. I try not to ask them to pose in a certain way, unless I feel the composition is not coming together as I’d like. Most times, I’m riding my bike or driving through the city, and I see a particular spot where I’d like to photograph someone, and I’ll pull over and wait for the right person to come along. These locations are usually chosen because of
the light and shadow coming across the frame or a wall mural that grabs my attention. There are times that I am walking past a person, a couple, or a group of people that I quickly photograph without their knowledge. When in Paris, I really tried to capture the everyday walker’s experience, all the while being inspired by my favorite Parisian photographer, Eugene Atget.
In addition to being an artist, you’re the gallery director at Gallery 71 in New York City. How does your work and background as an artist impact the way you run your gallery?
I’ve been an artist my entire life, always drawing as a young boy. Through high school and college, I had several jobs as a picture framer and after college, I started working at Newmark Gallery. It was there that I learned how to run a gallery and then finally opened Gallery 71 in 1994, a year after Newmark’s closing. There are too many artists and too few galleries to accommodate them. Understanding this, I do my best to be compassionate whenever an artist comes through my door. A lot of it has to do with my own experiences when I was much younger and having to deal with
rejection when showing my photographs to galleries. As a direct result, I try my best to look at the work of every artist who comes through my door to let them know that their work and their vision is important.
In 2013, after owning your gallery for nineteen years, you exhibited your own photography for the first time. What gave you the courage to share your art with the world?
It was never about having the courage to show my work. It was more about not being a photography gallery, which, in hindsight, was a mistake. For a number of years, my older brother Ibrahim, who was the most instrumental person in my growth as a photographer, would ask me when he and I were going to have a joint exhibit. I kept putting it off,saying that I was not ready. Then at the age of 57, in 2013, he passed away in his sleep. I will not get into the details here of how difficult this was for my entire family and especially for me. One day, not too long after, I woke up and my first thought was, “What are you waiting for?” I told this thought to my wife, Eileen, and she said, “Set a date or it will not happen.” I thank her for that extra push that I needed.
What advice would you give to emerging artists seeking to advance their careers?
The biggest piece of advice I can give is keep working hard at your craft. Create, create, create. Build your body of work. Learn from other artists by speaking with them and exchanging ideas and experiences. Learn to take criticism, as everyone views art in a different way based on their perspective. Study the masters—always make time to go to museums and gallery openings. Read as much as you can about the artists who interest you and build a library of art books. Be open to all art and try to see the reason for its creation. If you can afford it, get a formal education in art, and learn the basic fundamentals and techniques—from there you can only grow. Have mentors always.
Do you have any current projects, through your gallery or your photography, that you can share with us? We would love to hear what you’re working on!
Yes, yes, yes! At my gallery we have been featuring a different artist every month, which includes an artist talk on the opening night or soon after. As for my photography, I had an exhibit entitled “Beautiful People of New York: A Photographic Experience”, which was hosted by the South African Consulate/ Cultural Center in May of 2022. The exhibit consisted of fifty photographs I took of people all around the city. Accompanying my photographs were poems written by my daughter Natalia. The show was scheduled for one month and extended a number of times; it finally came down after five months. It was popular, I’m proud to say. I am currently looking for another venue to house the show, as Natalia and I are in the process of creating a book with these photographs and her poems, and we hope to release the book at the opening of a new exhibit.
in conversation with Emma Hapner
villageoneart.com villageoneart
You founded VillageOneArt Gallery, a women-led contemporary art space, in 2018, and you have focused on promoting marginalized artists since. What inspired you to make this the focal point of your career?
For many years, I have been passionate about following the work of emerging artists, most of whom are either students at art schools or recent graduates. Their freedom in creation, unrestricted expression, and genuine authenticity, without the pressure to please or an understanding of how to cater to the market, deeply attracts me. Especially when we were a young gallery a few years ago, we were more inclined to choose young artists who shared our vision to grow together. I enjoy exploring and discovering interesting artists, giving them the opportunity to showcase their work. If their work is collected or noticed by more established art institutions during this process, it is a great encouragement for both the artists and me. Fortunately, in recent years, the art market has needed an injection of the strength of emerging artists; artists from minority ethnicities and women are receiving more attention and recognition. I am willing to make more efforts for this group.
As a curator and co-founder of VillageOneArt Gallery, what part of your work in the art field are you the most passionate about?
Being able to consistently work as a curator is what excites me the most. I have a passion for visual arts, theater, literature, and film. I am interested in various forms of art. Currently, I am primarily involved in curating painting exhibitions, but I hope to explore sculpture, installations, and more in the future, given the opportunity. My goal is to curate exhibitions that are inspiring and appealing to the public.
If you had to choose one, what has been the most impactful experience in your career so far?
During the pandemic in New York, my gallery partner and I made the unforgettable decision to keep our gallery open and continue physical exhibitions in the nearly deserted city. There was so much uncertainty in our hearts—about New York, about the future... Now, nobody talks to me about those days anymore, as if they never happened. But the memory remains vivid in my mind.
With your many years of experience as an art consultant, curator, and gallery owner, do you have any advice for emerging artists, or those who want to work in the art field?
Developing a regular reading habit is essential. Learn to utilize all available social platforms for self-promotion. Consciously build relationships with friends who have a background in art theory, fostering communication. It’s not necessary to be eloquent, but practice articulating your viewpoints concisely and comprehensively.
Who or what inspires you the most?
Many influential cultural heroes have greatly impacted me. However, after listing a few names, I still find myself nostalgic for those friends who were once in my life, with whom I shared many joyful and challenging moments. Some have passed away, while others have drifted apart and lost contact. These loving relationships have had a significant impact on me.
Are there any projects you’re working on now that you’d like to share? We would love to hear about them!
This year, I curated a group exhibition titled “In the Mood for Love” at VillageOneArt Gallery, featuring seventeen Chinese female artists from mainland China, Taiwan, and the United States. The exhibited works reflect contemporary trends in figurative painting, traditional Chinese painting styles, abstract art, and mixed-media art. I spent a lot of time and effort curating and selecting the artworks, and I really hope that more people will get to see them!
in conversation with Victoria J. Fry
ugly.colors
When I came across your Instagram a few years ago, I was immediately struck by your use of color and light. In what ways do you use these elements to communicate a particular emotion or mood?
Well, it was really important for me to realize that light and color are one and the same. Once I understood that, how the whole composition plays together became much more intuitive to me. The shadows are not separate from the light. Then, I think it’s largely a matter of contrasts, or lack thereof. In other words, playing with subtlety and ambiguity. Ambiguity is one of my favorite tools as an artist. I do love suggesting as little as possible while still having there be enough in the composition to engage the viewer. In most of my works, that is all it is. An invitation into this space, to be, to wander, and hopefully pause for a moment. So, the light and color are always playing toward this goal. But the journey varies slightly in each painting, and it’s a fun adventure each time. Improvising.
When it comes to subject matter, your work includes portraiture, landscape, and still life, to name a few. Is there a subject that you’re most drawn to?
I could paint landscapes exclusively for the rest of my life. On my toughest, most tiring days, if I want to paint at all, I only want to push colors around and see what happens. The landscape, the clouds, and the sky have been the perfect playground for this game. It does not get boring. Not only do I get to study the beautiful atmosphere we get to exist in, but I get to share my experience of it with others. That has led to some beautiful moments in my life. Even if I could not paint, that time would be spent gazing at the landscape, the clouds, and the sky. It brings me peace and calm. They never fail to remind me how wonderful it is to be here at all.
From pastel drawings to plein-air painting, you’ve developed a signature style that is uniquely your own. How did you find your artistic voice, and what advice might you give to emerging artists who are discovering theirs?
Anything unique about my work results from a stubborn pursuit in the direction of my own curiosities—a devotion to nothing but what intrigues me on any given day. I would advise artists to follow their curiosity and to be relentless. Like this, we can fall in love with the process and rise above any challenges of creative block or external pressures. I hope so much for artists to not feel bound by what would be their “style” or what their audience expects. I imagine that most of us start on this journey to play and explore; I don’t think anything should ever get in the way of that. When I am feeling stuck in my art, I try to remember that it can feel like play time, and it doesn’t have to be anything other than fun.
What experiences have shaped your journey as a visual artist, and how has your creative practice evolved?
When I was 5, my dad took me to get some pizza by the beach. He is quiet and serious, but really sensitive. On the way home, we walked by a lake. The sun was setting and we sat on a bench to see it go. I must’ve asked something about what was happening in the sky,
because my dad went on to show me his watch and to tell me how the time had something to do with where the sun was in the sky. This is a very special memory for me. Throughout my life, taking a walk at sunset has been my reminder of our place in the universe. When I was younger, it was grounding for me in a very romantic and naïve way. Now, it feels just the same. These feelings of the sublime are what I tend to paint about to this day, and I find it everywhere.
How do you balance your time in the studio with other responsibilities, interests, or passions?
When I started dedicating more time to art, in high school, I would go to my art practice hoping that it would energize me and help make the other parts of my life more bearable. Eventually, I realized this was asking too much of my art practice, and that it was straining the relationship. Now, I know that taking care of the other parts of my life, like my health, my relationships, and finances, helps me show up to the easel with much better energy for it. It becomes a positive feedback loop where the creative act fuels me to live more vividly. Sitting down to paint after taking care of life things with that energy allows for the most productive creative time. Productive in the way of presence.
Tell us about one of your proudest moments as an artist thus far
I would say it’s the moments when I’ve gotten to help others see how creativity exists in their life, too. So much of the conversation around practicing art is about getting better at this or that technique. I’ve seen people absolutely refuse to put anything down on paper because they believed it would not be up to par. That, because it would not be “good”, then there was no reason to try and draw it. The part about it being good or not is such a tiny part of the equation for me, if at all. However, the part about picking up the pencil and making the marks while staying open to the possibilities of how it will manifest on the paper: I think that is the whole adventure. To have that adventure, that alone, is worth engaging in the creative act. There is so much to be found in it.
In this section we invite contributing writers to share their perspectives on contemporary art, education, and other notes of interest related to visual arts.
Caught in today’s overwhelming art world, artists often find themselves slipping into a Sisyphean lifestyle of “make work, share work, update, and apply.” This reduces the time for one of the prime activities of an artist: looking. Looking is essential to an artist’s growth and ability to create. I would go as far as to say that we need more than looking—we need a slow look.
When we take a slow look, we become invested in a work: absorbed, curious, and involved. “Active looking” is another term tossed about to describe looking at art, but I want to be inactive. I want the work itself to do the heavy lifting. I’m tired of fast art and easy answers spelled out. Some would say this is lazy viewership, but I would argue we have been besieged by lazy art. Fast art. Clever, clickbait art made for consumption and accruing more views. I want slow art so that I can have a slow view. I want to lounge in a piece, to enjoy being taken away from quick one-liners and quips.
It isn’t art’s fault. The surrounding culture has encouraged this phenomenon of fast, digestible work. For artists to be seen, they have to “keep up.” They must create more work to be posted and consumed. We feel like we don’t have time to have a slow look at our own art, let alone other work. To spend a day sitting and looking in our studio feels like a luxury many of us can’t afford, as we are pulled away by the endless art career “responsibilities” and alerts.
We are a culture sinking in constant updates and new content. The new always attempts to upend the old, but a great work of art is timeless and stands its ground. It is constant. What makes the work enduring is its masterful use of materials—the ability to transcend its medium and fill it with emotion, presence, and humanness. Unfortunately, this art also exists in a data structure for the algorithm to consume, reduced to a two-by-three-inch image. We think we are experiencing the work itself, but it is artificial, devoid of substance, cut into bite-sized pieces.
While the digital age has revolutionized our access to art, we must remember that the image we have been given isn’t the actual work. It is a fast look. We need time in the presence of ageless work for slow looking: experiencing the scale, the texture, and the presence in order to truly perceive it. In the words of Alfred Korzybski, the map is not the territory.
As we feel the pressure to push the boulder of art tasks up the hill yet again, what would happen if we said “no”? If we forget the giant rock of emails at the bottom of the mountain and walk away, leaving it for another morning? Today is for the slow look. To stand in front of your art, and in front of the great pieces that will stay constant in their ability to move and transform. We turn our faces toward the act of the slow look, and the labor of seeing.
Modern artists no longer have the luxury of focusing the majority of our time on refining our craft. With the rise of social media as a means to market ourselves, we’re expected to be adept in a myriad of skills related to self-promotion—branding, marketing, sales, content management, and the like—while somehow finding the time to explore and improve our creative practices.
This pressure to cultivate an online persona via constant exposure is why many artists fall into a pattern of hyperengagement followed by burnout. The demands of this exposure can be particularly daunting for introverted artists or those from marginalized groups, who are especially at risk of online harassment. What often begins as an intimate process of creating art to navigate personal experiences can morph into a public showcase, blurring the lines between deeply private moments and public performances.
The collective sharing of our artistic efforts quickly becomes a slippery slope. While it’s gratifying to be welcomed and validated by like-minded creators and appreciators, it can also breed resentment and exhaustion, creating a schism between ourselves and the precious work we do.
This is why exercising measures of self-protection is critical. Stepping back and remembering why we started this creative journey can serve to keep us grounded amidst the algorithm’s demands, ever-evolving content trends, and the constant worry of “Am I posting enough?” To counterbalance the pressure, many artists who profit from their work suggest having projects that are entirely private. There is value in keeping what we love the most close to us.
The art world will continue to be shaped by the complex terrain of social media and self-branding, presenting artists with the question:, “How can we navigate the balance between boosting visibility and preserving the intimacy of our craft?” Prioritizing our creative identities over our entrepreneurial goals helps us to maintain the integrity of our work. Within contemporary art, the concept of “artrepreneurship” is inescapable. However, centering ourselves as artists first gives us the space for creative exploration while maintaining a balanced relationship with the demands of consumerism.
Walking in the streets of New York, one can see a dead possum whose entrails are being plucked away by the hungry birds. This world, a vicious jungle, grants us the time and space within which we think, live, breathe, and search for meaning. Our time is limited, and, through the process of growing older, the urgency builds to say something, a statement that reflects our human condition. Whether the statement is a violent scream or a beautiful painting, we are no longer the same. We are reborn anew as philosophers who produce and articulate thoughts from within, letting out the ideas and the visions that transform the external world.
This is the framework or viewpoint with which I approach the works of Alexander Brewington, whose works were recently exhibited at the Thierry Goldberg Gallery in the Lower East Side. In Brewington’s case the urge translates not to a scream but to a burning passion like a flame, which grows bigger and bigger until it sets that which surrounds it on fire.
The exhibition, “What Burns Beneath,” begins with oil-on-wood paintings of the artist’s friends and allies, all or mostly African American, who exert their quiet yet dignified presences. People can be seen deeply immersed in thought, as in “Spirit’s Musings” (2023), or conversing, as in “Drawn to the Flame” (2024)—or gazing back at the viewer and seeing himself through the gaze of the other (who is the viewer outside the picture frame), as in “End on a High Note” (2023).
The flame is at first a small spark, which hides underneath cool blue and purple hues, suggesting the transitional period of twilight. A grid-like pattern, produced by scratching the painting with a palette knife, reveals warm colors underneath, resembling the repeating rectangles that characterize the city—the street layout,high-rise skyscrapers made of steel, concrete, and glass. The hardier texture of the wooden panels breaks the sense of illusion; the paintings admit their painterly nature and call attention to the creative process that was involved in their birth and rebirth.
In Brewington’s paintings, information is selectively put together, like fragmented puzzle pieces that fit harmoniously with one another. The painterly curation of information, in which colors continuously transition into one another, makes the paintings a
rich visual delight. The way the surfaces (the skin of a person, the bricks of a building) are worn down with wrinkles or imperfections is conveyed purely through the use of colors and abstract brush strokes that sit on top of one another. (The motif of light and shadows dividing a form into opposite areas of warm and cool colors may have been tried and tried by many in art schools, yet there is a twist of original style and political meaning within Brewington’s method and palette.)
As the viewer strolls down the staircase, the flames become stronger, growing into the manes of lions. A revolution is beginning. The lions’ roaring presence disturbs and strikes at the core of the viewer’s psyche, who is no longer just a viewer but a participant in the metaphor and the theatrical narrative of the sociopolitical revolution. The rhythms of the paintings grow stronger in the basement gallery, just like the stars and the cold airs of Vincent van Gogh’s famous painting “Starry Night.”
The visual allegory of the flame must be also carefully considered, since it is the continual release of chemical energy. Fire is the hallway or the corridor, a liminal space where a bit of matter transforms into heat and light. What does the artist mean when he sets things on fire, or rather, allows things and people to burn with great intensity and luminosity? Furthermore, what is the oxymoron or the contradiction of allowing flames to be reflected through puddles of water on the ground, the very substance that kills fire?
Brewington’s paintings take turns on the stage like the scenes of a cinematic storyline, capturing the power and the merit of passion, of the call of destiny. Just like fire, ideas spread, and passions are contagious; and they can be killed or subdued by a restricting force with a heart cold as water. Fire is essential for illuminating situations and seeing in the dark. For Brewington, the darkness may be both a home and a symbol of the challenging circumstances Western society has imposed on the rest of the world through colonialism, neo-colonialism, and racism. The fire illuminates the figures and their environment, allowing them to be seen where they were invisible before.
Another way to approach the metaphor of the flame is to understand that ideas (or truths and falsehoods) are both our masters and children: we are the vessels in which they are nurtured, and we are also shaped by them. Fire often represents the moment we think and decide to act—the things that fuel us. It is this instance that both reveals our identity and defines us. The fire is the soul and the heart that burns, revealing itself as a passionate and loving object in an uninviting world. And this fire, this passion for truth and justice, will translate into revolutionary action in a time when a radical rethinking of our society is necessary to fight the “dark” side,to fix the inequalities and injustices.
The Black Lives Matter movement of the recent years is one such example of a revolution that grew from a small spark, which was a vision of equality and power for our African American brothers and sisters. In Brewington’s paintings, there is no need for a goddess of liberty and justice to lead the people, as in Delacroix’s famous homage to the French Revolution; his subjects carry the flame of passion within themselves, each carrying the torch that is necessary to catalyze actions and movements that will revolutionize the world. However, within this metaphorical logic of Brewington’s paintings, the twilight may never go away: the darkness represents the human condition and the injustices that abound everywhere. To paraphrase Jacques Derrida, one never arrives fully at justice; justice is an infinite concept that one aspires to but never reaches. In a similar way, humanity must strive for justice continually, and it is this effort, process, and directional mentality that counts.
UPresent-day urban murals have acquired a pivotal place in contemporary culture., serving as a tool to address social and political issues. However, Theythese artistic expressions not only adorn the walls of cities but also serve as a tool to address social and political issues. Theconvey strong and disruptive messages they conveythat provoke thought and have the potential to drive change, making them even more powerful.
From the streets of New York to the walls of Berlin, urban murals act as wanderers, echoing society’s debates and troubles. Artists and collectives like Boa Mistura, Vhils, Blu, andor Shepard Fairey have gained international recognition for their works that challengeing dogma and critiquinge injustice. Theseir pieces, adorning polluted walls, railways, and neglected public spaces, transform urban environments into living paintings that narrate tales of defiance and hope.
One of the most captivating aspects of urban artistic canvases is their ability to spark discussions and contribute to the transformation of society as a whole. These murals aim to depict economic inequality, racial discrimination,
and the environmental crisis, confronting uncomfortable truths and offering alternative perspectives. In a time when political views are often deeply divided, street art can serve as a ““meeting point”” where people come together to strive for a more equal and just future.
Beyond adorning city being mere paintings on walls, urban murals can also contribute to highlighting the political situations by breaking the mainstream image. In countries that uphold freedom of expression, street art becomes a form of peaceful and nonviolent resistance, gently challenging systems of oppression authoritarianism and advocating for human rights. Such murals can serve as a means of enlightenment for oppressed people, enabling them to argue for their rights and reclaim their rightful place in society.
This issue of New Visionary Magazine is curated by Alfred Gonzalez.
Alfred Gonzalez was born in New York City and raised in “El Barrio”—Spanish Harlem—where many of his early photographs were taken. He studied photography and urban design at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York, before transferring to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, attending the School of Architecture and then enrolling in the School of Art’s photography program.
Gonzalez opened a fine art gallery, Gallery 71, in New York City in 1994. In 2013, he exhibited his own photographs for the first time. His work is now held in numerous prestigious permanent collections—the New York Historical Society has acquired fourteen of his images; the Center for Creative Photography a the University of Arizona has acquired ten; and El Museo del Barrio has acquired two—as well as the private collections of the Obamas, Agnes Gund, Gayle King, Spike Lee, and Abbe Raven, among others.
www.niloofarasadi.com niloofar.asadi62
Niloofar Asadi draws from her experience in film, photography, and theater to create character-driven work that explores identity and representations of the self. Her pieces include symbols, allegories, colors, and patterns that are rife with personal meaning, including Persian calligraphy, Islamic architectural forms, and traditional Iranian motifs and arabesque patterns. By incorporating these ancient forms into decidedly modern pieces, she illuminates the ways in which the past continues to shape the present. Her series “Gordafarid,” which she describes as a poetic visual anthology, is named for a classical
Persian heroine who went into battle to protect the honor of her people. For Niloofar, Gordafarid represents the multiplicity of feminine identities and a disruption of the gender binary. In the series, women alternatively avert and inflict their gazes, demanding recognition as subjects and agents alike. Niloofar holds an M.F.A. in Film Directing from the Academy of Art University. Her short films, documentaries, photographs, and visual artworks have been recognized, awarded, and published by international film festivals, magazines, and art organizations.
www.lizbarickfall.com
barickuda
Elizabeth Fall is a mixed-media artist whose work puts the natural world in conversation with the quotidian ephemera that fill it. Her constructions combine photographs she’s taken with found objects, both organic and man-made. She traffics in contrasts; her photos are mostly landscapes, gesturing toward a pristine, enduring beauty, whereas the cast-off items she incorporates are mundane, often made to be discarded. Her pieces ask viewers to pause and consider the environment around them, both on a local and global scale. The objects that surround us define our idiosyncratic realities and are
laden with personal meaning—they can be vessels of emotion, memory, and nostalgia. However, they are also emblematic of the rampant consumerism that threatens our planet’s sustainability. Fall received a B.F.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.F.A. in Metalsmithing from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She taught metalwork and jewelry design at the University of Michigan. She is the director of trustArt studios and Barickuda Gallery, an artists’ workspace and gallery in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her work has been exhibited in numerous group, invitational, and solo shows across the U.S.
abelmont.com
belmont_aj
Through stark use of line and color, Albert John Belmont pares environments, objects, and beings down to their essential elements. His methodology cuts through superfluous detail, allowing him to capture the core of his subjects. In both his oil paintings and digital drawings, Belmont aims to capture his experiences, memories, and perceptions in their simplest forms. There is a sense of quietude in his work—when figures appear, they are often alone, or set in relief against chaotic backgrounds
into which they cannot quite meld. The busyness of his intersecting lines gives way to the silence of negative space: a moment of stillness in a world of noise. Belmont holds a B.F.A. from the Lesley University College of Art and Design and an M.A. from University of Florida’s College of Fine Arts. He currently teaches fine art at Southern New Hampshire University. His work has been exhibited in shows across the country.
www.juliebeloussow.com juliebeloussow
Julie Beloussow’s vibrant acrylic paintings offer a psychedelic exploration of the neurodivergent mindscape. Beloussow intimately understands the challenges of navigating the world with an atypical neurological configuration; she has A.D.H.D., and her brother has autism. Her images visually represent that feeling of otherness; they are formally realistic but rendered with bright, unnatural hues, illuminating what it’s like to perceive the world differently. She uses unconventional materials—iridescent pigments, marbled paper, and holographic foil—to create work that is almost hallucinogenic, immersing the viewer in an experience of altered reality. The effect is one of melting and shifting;
boundaries between subject and environment begin to blur. Throughout her body of work, flowers with fasciation recur. The condition is a relatively rare one that causes the abnormal growth of plant tissue, often resulting in elongation or contortion. Beloussow sees this as an apt symbol for neurodivergence. “Their beautiful but strange forms serve as a metaphor for the unique perceptions and challenges that shape our atypical worlds,” she says. Beloussow has a B.F.A. in Drawing & Painting from California State University Long Beach. She received the 2023 Emerging Artist Award at The Brea Gallery’s 38th Made in California exhibition and has shown work in both solo and group shows.
www.driechapek.com drie_chapek
Drie Chapek creates kaleidoscopic, fantastical painted environments that include multiple realities. Her pieces are inspired in part by her itinerant childhood moving across the U.S., gazing at changing terrain as she traveled. As a teenager, she discovered her love of worldbuilding, painting murals in her bedroom and working on theater sets. She was thrilled by the possibility of creating a selfcontained universe—not just the sets themselves, but the interconnected relationships that would come to fill them.
She went on to study fine art and now makes paintings that operate in a similar way. Each contains multitudes; boundaries blur between various interiors and landscapes, creating an experience that is both disorienting and ripe with potential. Chapek aims to capture something of life’s energy; emotions and experiences intermingle, resulting in a rich topography of her inner world. She has exhibited extensively, in both solo and group shows. Her work is held in several private collections.
wanhangchao.portfolio.site aaawh_chao
Wanhang Chao’s deeply subjective digital paintings subvert dominant narratives, questioning gender, history, and the roles we play in society. Growing up, she was trained in sketching, watercolor, and traditional Chinese painting. It wasn’t until she was in college that Chao discovered digital art, a medium that allowed her to express a reality beyond the tangible one we perceive. In her images, female subjects inhabit places both real and imagined; the figures and their environments are
distorted and unbound, creating a phantasmagorical effect. Chao wants to interrogate our notions of normalcy and what we believe to be true. Her work draws from surrealism, animism, and feminism; it rejects the hierarchical, paternalistic framework that structures most of our accepted reality. She directly confronts the concept of objectivity, illuminating personal histories and perspectives. Chao is an artist and curator who holds an M.A. from the School of Visual Arts in Curatorial Practice.
www.oliviacohenart.com olivicohenart
Olivia Cohen’s oil-pastel paintings elevate the ephemeral, transforming fleeting moments that might otherwise be overlooked—a humorous coincidence, a pleasing interplay of shadow and light—into works of art. She describes her work as “an exploration of mundane beauty and joy;” finding inspiration in simple, familiar objects and scenes, she positions our everyday lives as deserving of aesthetic consideration. The effect of this is twofold:
on one hand, it calls into question what we consider to be a worthy artistic subject, and on the other, it points toward the manipulative power of painting. Cohen operates in this area of ambiguity, making images that combine whimsy and gravitas—a celebration of both everyday life and of the creative act. Cohen holds a B.A. from Tufts University and works across a variety of media, including painting, photography, collage, and weaving.
orfamivisualart.com
orfamivisualart
Orlando Corona had to adapt to a new reality when he moved to the U.S. from Guanajuato, Mexico, at the age of ten. In high school, he discovered a passion for art, which allowed him to create his own narratives and to honor his culture. Through printmaking and painting, he captures the Mexican immigrant experience, turning small moments and personal memories into vivid visual feasts. The care with which he renders his subjects, using
thick, emotive brushstrokes, establishes them in their full personhood—a counterbalance to the stereotypes and ignorance that are too prevalent in American society. Corona was selected as one of the Greenville Center for Creative Arts’ Brandon Fellows in 2022. He has been featured in multiple publications and on local news programs.
www.lindsaycronk.com
lindsaycronkart
At first glance, Lindsay Cronk’s paintings are playful, vibrant, and juvenile, bright medleys of bold lines and whimsical shapes. Her images are, in part, a celebration of the wonder and beauty of everyday existence, but they also capture a darker reality. Cronk is a self-taught artist who sees parallels between her own work and the artbrut movement, which historically took particular interest in art created by those suffering from mental illness. Cronk began making paintings after an intense bout of psychosis, and that experience continues to inform her
work. Her naïve style allows her to address difficult topics in a new and unconventional way. She rejects realism, finding a more essential truth in childlike simplicity. While her work is deeply personal, it gestures to universal topics. Storytelling plays a big role in her pieces, which utilize mythological, fantastical, and theological imagery and tropes. Cronk is an award-winning artist whose work has been featured in juried and group shows across the country.
mfdartist.com
mfdartist
Matthew F. Dougherty’s bold acrylic paintings contain an onslaught of visual information. They are redolent of Cubism; while recognizably portraits and still lifes, each can be broken down into simple geometric shapes and patterns. The canvases are filled with abstractions as well as everyday objects, and forms that fall somewhere in between the two. Vivid color and bold strokes create a sense of joyous chaos, playfully breaking down and
reconstituting observed reality. Dougherty holds an M.F.A. from the New York Academy of Art; he also studied at Barnes Foundation, the University of the Arts, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He received a certificate of artistic merit from the Luxembourg Art Prize and is currently a resident artist with GinkgoArts Collective, where he exhibits regularly.
www.lorettafaveri.com
lorettafaveri
Loretta Faveri tears apart paper that has personal significance then refashions the resulting fragments into poignant tapestries. The pieces in her “Art of Forgiveness” series are constructed from old work she once deemed inadequate, sublimating her negative feelings and self judgment into kaleidoscopic new pieces of art. She sees this process—ripping apart, stitching back together— as a metaphor for confronting shame and healing. “Ode to Sylvia Lowry,” a remembrance of her aunt, recreates Sylvia’s likeness using handmade paper she had given her
niece. Faveri asked other family members to send stories, words, and phrases in Sylvia’s memory, which she ripped into pieces and wove into the background of the portraits. These images are a representation of living with loss—of using our precious memories to reconstitute our loved ones in their absence. Faveri holds a Bachelor of Design from Ontario College of Art & Design University. Her paper tapestries have been featured in Surface Design Journal and will be exhibited at the Paper Global 6 exhibition at the Stadtmuseum in Deggendorf, Germany
www.kayleyjaneart.com
kayleydykmanart
Kayley Jane Garcia Dykman’s vibrant oil paintings are a celebration of Pacific Island culture and identity—regal portraits that incorporate traditional designs, crafts, movements, and clothing. Her subjects are rendered in rich casts of light and shadow, while textiles often lay flat across the surface of the images. Textiles play an important role in her work; she builds her own canvases from birch panels and oil-primed linen, the texture of which heightens the effect of the fabrics she features. Dykman was inspired by Hawaiian quilts to begin exploring the fusion of flat design and voluminous portraiture,
resulting in visual tapestries that combine different cultural traditions. Her work puts history in conversation with the present moment, inviting viewers to consider how cultures evolve over time while continuing to honor the past. Dykman received a B.F.A. from Laguna College of Art in Design. Among other accolades, she was an honorable mention in the Portrait Society of America’s 2023 and 2024 The Future Generation competitions. Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions and featured in publications.
josephgoldfedder.com
josephgoldfedder
Initially trained as a fine artist, Joseph Goldfedder was inspired while traveling through the vast landscape of New Mexico to pursue acupuncture—a decision that changed his understanding about the connection between science, creativity, and healing, and led him to a new way of making art. His work is both guided by and representative of the flow of energy, or Qi, throughout the body. Goldfedder sees drawing as a process that allows an artist to cross from the mundane to a higher plane, and to bring what he
experiences there back across the threshold of reality. His visual language is primordial and dreamlike, representing essential states of being. His work, like his acupuncture practice, is guided by intuition. Discovery and chance play a role in his current series of oilpastel Sgraffito drawings—as he carves through layers of pigment, unexpected colors and shapes emerge. Goldfedder received a B.F.A. from the University of the Arts and an M.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University.
www.odiliaiaccarinoart.com odiliaiaccarino
Odilia Iaccarino uses oil pastels, acrylics, and graphite, applied with brushes and spatulas, to create emotive, gestural work. Her most recent series reimagines the titular figures from Diego Velázquez’s celebrated and mysterious painting, “Las Meninas”—maids of honor attending a young royal. The meninas have inspired artists throughout the centuries, from Goya to Picasso, who painted 58 interpretations of Velazquez’s image. Iaccarino encountered permutations of the figure when
visiting Madrid, which was adorned with live-size menina sculptures. It became a muse for her, too; her meninas are rendered with bright colors, tactile surfaces, and modern silhouettes. Iaccarino sees her images as a way of putting the past in conversation with the present, celebrating both tradition and transformation. Iaccarino is an awardwinning artist who has exhibited extensively. Her work is held in private and public collections in the U.S., Mexico, and Spain.
leajerlagic.wordpress.com eloahart
Lea Jerlagic’s woodcut images explore the esoteric power of the erotic, drawing on ancient techniques and beliefs. While studying in China, she was trained in the art of woodblock printing and has incorporated that method into her practice. She prints images on Chinese handmade paper, which she then embellishes with freehand drawing, combining traditional and contemporary approaches. She is particularly inspired by Taoist and tantric teachings, which see erotic practices as a way of joining the physical
and the spiritual. Jerlagic’s thick, emotive marks capture the physicality of the act; her soft washes of color and pattern gesture towards the sublime. Her pieces are decidedly modern but belong in a lineage that extends back over the millennia, ennobling the concept of sensuality as a means of self-discovery. Jerlagic received an M.F.A. from the Academy of Fine Arts Sarajevo, where she currently works as an Assistant Professor.
www.chrisklein.com chriskleinart
Chris Klein’s hyper-realistic acrylic paintings capture the totemic power of costumes. He began creating these images while working as a scenic artist, creating worlds onstage; he’s since rendered finery from some of the most iconic shows in the world, including “Phantom of the Opera” and “The Lion King,” which featured his work on a brochure celebrating the production’s twentieth anniversary in London. The series has expanded to include other spheres, including historical royal costumes, as well as pieces from the worlds of fashion, film, dance, and
pop culture. There is an aura of magnificence conveyed through his images, whether they depict a favorite shirt of Freddie Mercury’s or the dresses worn by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens while performing a piece by the famed choreographer Fernand Nault. Klein was the head of scenic art at the Stratford Festival and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. He helped create sets for Hollywood films, Cirque du Soleil, and theater productions in London’s West End and Broadway. He has won numerous awards and been exhibited in solo and group shows across the world.
www.srkartstudio.com srkartist
Sheryl Ruth Kolitsopoulos creates intricate landscapes, cityscapes, and portraits that celebrate the beauty of nature and of life. She is particularly inspired by the land and culture of Greece; her images capture with loving detail the the texture of life there and pay tribute to the country’s vistas, both natural and constructed. Through her work, Kolitsopoulos hopes to inspire the same sense of awe it evokes from her, focusing particularly on the interplay of color and light. Her body of work includes paintings, lithographs, and drawings, the latter of which she describes as the foundation of her process—
she incorporates it throughout each of the media in which she works. Kolitsopoulos received a B.F.A. from Parsons School of Design before continuing her studies at the Art Students League. She has exhibited in solo shows at Pleiades Gallery and Prince Street Gallery in New York City, as well as in group exhibitions in the U.S., Taiwan, and France. Her work is held in the collections of the Hammond Museum, the New York Public Library, and the Newark Public Library and in private collections across the world.
www.jesslevey.com
jesslevey.art
Jess Levey works across a variety of media, including photography, video, installation, and sound, to create intricately layered pieces. Her practice is deeply concerned with boundaries—often, she creates artificial barriers by partially obscuring either the subject of her images or the finished product. As readily as she creates boundaries, she will dissolve them, cutting across objects with projections of light or splicing negatives across photographs. Levey describes her primary subjects as grief, loss, and the climate crisis, and these transformations—breaking down, building up—call attention to life’s impermanence and unpredictability, as well as its potential for renewal.
In her images, each fragmented layer contributes to a larger, integrated whole. The barriers she introduces, and then subverts, invite viewers to interrogate the notion of disconnectedness: What is it that separates us from each other, and the world? Levey received a B.A. from Barnard College and an M.F.A. from Hunter College. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout New York, including MoCADA and Rochester Contemporary Art Center. She is a former artist in residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Center on Governors Island in New York City.
carlosmateu.wixsite.com/visualart mateu.carlos
Carlos Mateu’s paintings combine a realist style with Cubist elements to create a slightly distorted, surreal vision of the world. He emphasizes the three dimensionality of his subjects using vivid colors, bold shadows, and dramatic perspective shifts. To do this, he applies layers of acrylic like silkscreen, creating clearly delineated forms, to which he then adds texture with oil pastels. Mateu’s images are visually rich, incorporating figuration, natural imagery, and geometric shapes. The result is fantastical, almost mystical; Mateu has created his own visual language, full
of symbols and iconography drawn from his memories of Cuba, his experience in the U.S., and the influence of Afro-Cuban culture and religions. Mateu studied fine arts at the The National Academy of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba, and art education at the Joan Mitchell Foundation. He has been accoladed by and featured in numerous art publications, and his work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in the U.S. and Italy. He currently teaches both art and Cuban dance.
georgiemillerart.com
georgiemillerart
Georgie Miller’s collages are deceptively simple: beneath their bright colors and soothing patterns is a message about the nature of consumption. Her practice also incorporates painting, photography, and graphic design, utilizing both digital and physical materials. Her pieces often combine incongruous elements—nostalgia and futurism, levity and morbidity, new and old media—to undercut their pleasant facades. Miller’s dinner-table still lifes, for example, could seem like an homage to simple pleasures; they are, in fact, the imagined final meals of
people she encounters. Her newspaper collages include wistful messages created from obituary pages and floral arrangements cut from articles, games, and cartoons—a visual representation of the various media with which we are inundated daily. Miller’s work draws from her experience as a digital strategy director, curating editorial content for a luxury lifestyle magazine. Her fine art has appeared in multiple publications and has been featured in juried and group exhibitions.
www.tedmoorewoodworkandart.com
tedmoorewoodworkandart
Wood is both material and muse for Ted Moore. He uses it to tell a variety of stories about the Southwest United States—about the land itself and the people who have occupied it over the millenia. Using monochromatic ink on wood panels; gold and copper leaf; and wood, branches, lichen, and leaves, he creates objects that fall between the natural, the sacred, and the mundane. Combining photorealistic ink painting with traditional European cabinetry forms, he reframes our concepts of value
and interrogates the false dichotomy between man and environment. Moore believes it essential to break down such binaries—fabricated vs. natural, matter vs. mind, finite vs. infinite—to both understand our history and to face our future. Moore received a B.A. in Classics from the University of Colorado, Boulder, an M.A. and Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Toronto, and an M.F.A. from Maine College of Art & Design. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions across the U.S.
www.leorebolledo.com
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Leo Rebolledo’s dreamlike oil-pastel paintings are filled with intricate detail but still mysterious; there is a haunting sense of uncertainty about them. Stylistically, he’s inspired by the Baroque tradition, rendering elaborate scenes with special attention to draping fabrics and expansive interiors. As a child growing up in Pinochet’s Chile, Rebolledo had limited access to art supplies but was enamored with the work of the Old Masters. Using his school’s oil-pastel crayons, he trained himself to capture texture, light, and color in a way that recreated the
expressiveness of oil on canvas. His work is also inspired by Surrealism—his realistically rendered figures occupy strange and unsettling spaces. He uses photography, 3-D rendering, and digital photomontage to bring these scenes to life. The resulting work is both visually and psychologically rich, allowing the subconscious into the foreground. Rebolledo is a professional architect, a self-taught artist, and a member of the American Artist Professional League.
www.washington-rhodes.com washington.rhodes
Washington Rhodes’s paintings confront stereotypes and the mass-media ecosystem that perpetuates them. In his “Anthropomorphic Box Series,” figures stand against blank backgrounds with boxes over their heads, representing the pre-packaged conceptions we are delivered daily. Each features a juxtaposition of various brand symbols and cultural iconography—a Mickey Mouse offset in Virgil Abloh -style quotes wears Air Jordans and a Basquiat crown; a figure stands over a rubber duck, clutching a Bible and a tie, with a McDonalds Happy Meal over his visage. Rhodes’s images ask us to re-evaluate the narratives
we’re inundated with, which often overwhelm and confuse, and to challenge the culture of rampant consumerism that creates them. Only by questioning our reality can we remove that which blinds us from the truth. Rhodes graduated Cum Laude from Albany State University with a B.A. in Art. He has won multiple awards, including Best of Show in the 2009 Caroll Simms Art Competition at the African American Museum of Dallas, which holds his work in its permanent collection. He has exhibited throughout the U.S. and in the United Arab Emirates.
www.jeffreysassartist.com jeffreysassartist
Jeffrey Sass’s mixed-media works are a celebration of the art-making process—specifically, the darkroom development process. He first picked up a plastic toy camera at age six; he loved the “wonderful, terrible pictures” that resulted and has been producing work that embraces change and imperfection since. Using unconventional film, historic photo emulsions and expired photographic papers, which he then further distresses, he makes unpredictable, entirely unique pieces that visually capture the act of creation. He describes this
project, “Interior Views,” as a series of self portraits, crystallizing his process as a way of depicting himself. It’s an unconventional but direct method of representation, inviting viewers directly into his interiority by allowing them to witness the creative process. Sass is currently the artist in residence at Jacoby Arts Center, in Alton, Illinois, teaching experimental photography. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art.
deborahscottart.com
deborahscottart
Deborah Scott’s portraits are at once traditional and unconventional. Using classical painting techniques, she creates realistic renderings of human figures on top of rough and distressed canvases. As she works, she determines which areas of underpainting to leave exposed. This calls attention to their artifice; she does not see her work as mere representation but instead intends for it to reveal something essential about her subjects. Scott seeks to capture subjectivity itself, offering viewers
access beyond exteriors and revealing the tension between appearances and deeper truths. Her paintings are a celebration of the complexity of human existence and a visual recreation of the process of connecting. Scott studied contemporary painting and drawing at the Gage Academy of Art. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the U.S., including the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and the Whatcom Museum, and is held in private and institutional collections across the world.
www.susynski.com
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Kenneth Susynski’s oil paintings are an amalgamation. He was raised in Germany, Turkey, and Korea and absorbed the art and culture of each. He has no formal art training; he considers his teachers to be the museums he visited throughout his adolescence, immersing himself in the myriad ways the human form has been represented throughout history. He draws from a variety of distinct traditions—impressionism, portraiture, figuration, abstraction, photography—to create uniquely hybrid work. Bold strokes coalesce into forms, which move in
and out of representational modes—intricately rendered faces emerge from bursts of color suggesting bodies. The images gesture toward art-historical tropes and narratives without fully embodying them; his figures are somehow both vague and distinct, achieving a sense of timelessness. Susynski has exhibited in solo, group, and juried exhibitions across the U.S. and in Italy. His work has been featured in numerous publications and is held in several private collections.
melorawalters.com
melora.walters
Melora Walters uses oil paint and charcoal to create gestural images that feel at once modern and primordial. Her work reflects an abiding interest in human psychology; her paintings feature raw, pared-down versions of archetypal figures, often powerful animals or nude forms. She draws inspiration from her dreams and from thinkers like Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and Marie-Louise von Franz, who considered how mythological tropes play into our conceptions of our selves and our world. For Walters, painting has a ritualistic quality, and her pieces feel almost
totemic. Plumbing her own unconscious and that of the collective, Walters creates work that speaks to a deep, universal human experience. Walters is an artist, writer, actor, and filmmaker. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of publications; her acting credits include Boogie Nights, Cold Mountain, and Dead Poets Society. Drowning, a film that she wrote and directed, premiered at the Rome Film Festival in 2019. Her paintings have been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, and Berlin.
www.thomaswschaller.com thomaswschaller
Thomas Wells Schaller’s expressive, architectural watercolors capture cityscapes and buildings suspended somewhere between memory and dream. His work is filled with contrasts—light and dark, solid and void, real and imagined—that he joins harmoniously. Intricately rendered structures emerge from vague, ambient backgrounds, combining specificity and abstraction: these worlds both exist and they don’t. His paintings situate observed reality within his personal experience, inviting viewers to inhabit
his perspective and to consider their own. “This is what I try to paint—the experience of seeing my world,” he says. Schaller is an architect, award-winning artist, and best-selling author. He is the recipient of the Arthur Ross Award in Fine Arts, a Graham Foundation Grant, and two Hugh Ferriss Memorial Prizes. His work has been featured in International Watercolor Masters exhibitions in over twenty countries and is held in permanent collections across the world.
marionwesson.com
wessonality2.0
Growing up, Marion Wesson studied photography, ceramics, painting, paper making, jewelry, life drawing, and sculpture, among other forms of art—but it’s linear patterns that she keeps returning to. She has been painting lines on and off for more than twenty-five years. Around fourth grade, she experienced dissociative amnesia. “My art is constantly informed by this amnesia,” she says. “I repeat the lines in my art in a search for answers. If I draw these lines enough, maybe they will reveal, inform, or solve what went missing.” Using lines of differing colors and
lengths, she creates patterns that expand and contract, collapse and grow. Eventually, she introduced right angles and askew forms, allowing an element of disarray to take root. Wesson received a B.F.A. in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions across the U.S. and Spain. Wesson’s work is included in many private and corporate collections, including those of Twitter and the Mission Pacific Hotel.
www.nancywoodfineart.com
nancy.njwoodartist
Nancy Wood’s manipulated digital images bring nature photography into a new realm. She was classically trained in oil painting and drawing; in the 1990s, when computer art was emerging as a form, she trained herself on the technology and pioneered a new method of creation. She photographs landscapes, which she then transforms through digital painting, intensifying colors and distorting forms. Combining photo-realism and abstraction, she blurs the boundaries between fantasy and reality— between what we observe and what it does to us. Her work explores the profound connection between art,
nature, and human experience. By defamiliarizing natural scenes, she hopes to evoke the mystical sense of awe they can inspire. Wood received her B.A. and M.F.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Texas A&M University. She has won several awards and has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the country and internationally. Her work is held in numerous private and corporate collections.
Our studio visits in New York City and beyond provide us with a deeper understanding of the work in which we are viewing. Through this ongoing series, we travel to artist studios to meet contemporary artists who are creating powerful, thought-provoking work.
www.debcookshapiro.com
debcookshapiro
Debra Cook Shapiro, a San Francisco-based painter, has been pursuing her passion for art since moving to California from St. Louis in 1985. Shapiro studied at the Academy of Art University, in San Francisco; Istituto per L’Arte e il Restauro and Istituto Lorenzo de Medici, in Florence, Italy;, the San Francisco Art Institute; and UC Berkeley’s Post-Baccalaureate Seminars. In 2018, she attended Chalk Hill Artist Residency.
Shapiro’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at galleries, wineries, and private residences in Northern California. She has had solo shows in the French consul’s residence inSan Francisco, at Icehouse Gallery in Petaluma, California, and at Mirus Gallery, Arc Gallery, and 111 Minna Gallery, all in San Francisco. Shapiro’s work was shown by Teravarna Gallery inIrvine, California, in Superfine Art Fair in 2023, and in the L.A. Art Show in 2024.
Shapiro’s work has been featured in numerous online exhibitions, print magazines, and books, including Artists of the Bay Area, Jen Tough Gallery, Create! Magazine, Art to Hearts magazine, New Visionary magazine, I Like Your Work, and Women United Art Prize. She was awarded a scholarship to attend a residency at the European Cultural Academy in Venice, Italy, in July 2023.
My recent figurative oil paintings capture the vibrant energy of parties and celebrations against the backdrop of pools and beaches, emphasizing the deep emotions and connections shared during these special events with loved ones. These themes are intricately woven into my artwork, drawing inspiration from personal experiences, including unforgettable moments such as the joyous Colombian wedding party I attended a few years ago.
Growing up in the Midwest and remembering vacations on the Gulf of Mexico with my aunt Nea and my long-distance cousins, my art journey is influenced by a strong love for coastal environments and the sense of community they bring. This connection to water-centric celebrations fuels my exploration of human bonds and shared experiences in my work.
I draw from a rich tradition of art history, from Rococo painters like Jean-Honoré Fragonard to contemporary artists like David Hockney and Eric Fischl, paying tribute to their elegance, whimsy, and vibrant storytelling. By infusing my work with a timeless quality that transcends eras, I aim to capture the essence of seaside joy and leisure in my pieces.
My artistic process involves using chromatic hues and intuitive collage techniques to bring lively seaside celebrations to life on paper. I start with geometric shapes cut from painted vellum and assemble them into a collage before embarking upon my painted version of the same idea, but larger, on a canvas. I have fallen in love with the intuitive nature of these collages, which are exciting on their own, but have also informed my paintings, which I’ve begun making with more confident and chromatic brushstrokes, conveying the story of a celebration with an abstract modern feeling. This method of creating a collage before painting adds an element of playfulness and surprise to my work, capturing the essence of joyous gatherings by the sea in each piece.
www.loreneifermanart.com loreneiferman
Loren Eiferman was born in Brooklyn, New York, and currently lives and works in the Hudson Valley. After studying in France, she received a B.F.A. from SUNY Purchase. Her work has been exhibited at museums and galleries throughout the Tri-state region and is included in many prestigious private and corporate collections, both in the U.S. and globally. This past summer, she had a solo exhibition at the Ivy Brown Gallery in New York City. Inspired by a public-works commission from the N.Y.C. Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in which she translated her wood designs into a series of steel railings at the Pelham train station, she has begun casting her wood sculptures into bronze.
We have all at one point or another picked up a stick from the ground—touched the wood, peeled the bark off with our fingernails. My work taps into that same primal desire to be close to nature. Over many decades, I have created a unique technique of working with wood—my primary material. To craft my work, I usually begin with a drawing. I start out each day collecting tree branches that have fallen to the ground. Next, I look for shapes found within each stick and cut and permanently join these small shapes together.
Then, I fill all the open joints with a homemade putty and Sand them. This process of putty and sanding usually needs to be repeated at least three times. It is a timeconsuming process, and each sculpture takes me a minimum of a month to build.
The sculpture that is being constructed appears like my line drawing but in a three-dimensional space. I am interested in having my work seem as if it grew in nature when, in fact, each sculpture is usually composed of hundreds of small pieces of wood that have been meticulously crafted into a whole. My work can be called the ultimate recycling: I take the detritus of nature and give it a new life. My influences are many: the patterns in nature and plant life that surrounds me, the illustrations from the mysterious 15th century Voynich Manuscript, black-andwhite nature photographs by the German photographer Karl Blossfeldt. Through my work, I want to shine a light on the profound interconnectedness to the environment we all share.
www.ingridvwells.com ingridvwells
Ingrid V. Wells is an artist and writer located in Yelamu, also known as San Francisco, on the unceded territories of Ramaytush Ohlone peoples. Wells enjoys using playful subject matter to address complex topics, including resilience, compassion, abundance, joy, and being. Her artwork has been exhibited in New York at The Untitled Space and PxP Contemporary; PULSE Miami with Treat Gallery; in San Francisco with Voss Gallery; at the Museum of Northern California Art; and internationally in Cork, Ireland, at The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, and in South Korea at the CICA Museum.
Wells’s work has been featured by The Jealous Curator, The Huffington Post, Daily Mail, Bust Magazine, El País, and Teen Vogue, among others, as well as on SFMOMA’s Instagram. In May of 2022, Create! Magazine named her #7 on the list of Top 15 Emerging Artists to Follow on Social Media. She was awarded a Certificate of Honor from the City and County of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in October 2020 for her leadership in the arts and is a multiple-time grant recipient from the Center for Cultural Innovation.
This collection is about the journey of radical selfcompassion. It is a fierce rebellion—I consider it pretty punk rock—to stay in your joy when dealing with seemingly depressing circumstances. With this body of work, I am responding to my personal puzzles with the aim of inspiring viewers to greet their challenges with curiosity. My paintings serve as a visual respite, encouraging joyful rebellion in the face of obstacles.
I see my role as a joymaker, combing through everything in my purview with a Harriet the Spy-style magnifying glass to collect sparks of positive experiences. In my artistic process, I am seeking out visual notes of enthusiasm— identifying them, focusing on them, and sharing my discoveries. The oil-on-linen paintings in this collection are based on intimate studies of tiny confetti, enlarged up to a 60 x 40” scale. The collection title, “Emotional Support Paintings,” acknowledges the need for uplifting support in this moment in America and beyond. My paintings aim to meet the current moment by tapping into a charming, playful, and magical energy.
In order to overcome our shared challenges (and we have some big ones), we have to become joymakers first. It is crucial to be vibrant and visible when doing this work. So I implore you to go down the rabbit hole of following your curiosities. Unlock the video-game-style levelup moments within yourself, and find delight in where the path takes you. Enjoy having your own “Rocky-theChamp moment when facing your hurdles and growing your capacity for inner peace despite them. It’s crucial work, and it’s crucial we do this together now.
Coinciding with our mission to highlight emerging artists, we’re shining a spotlight on selected exhibitions in New York City that have inspired us.
www.sergiogomezonline.com sergiogomezart
www.33contemporary.com 33contemporary
On April 25th Warnes Contemporary reopened its doors to the public with our largest group exhibition to date, Reflections of us, featuring work by 24 artists. This exhibition is centered on self-portraiture and features a diverse selection of self-portraits by artists of all career levels. Through this exhibition we seek to broaden the classical definition of self-portraiture by including a wide range of interpretations, from representational to abstract.
This exhibition is curated by Sergio Gomez, an artist, curator and director of 33 Contemporary Gallery in Chicago. With a career spanning over 45 solo exhibitions in the United States and international museums, Sergio’s work has left a lasting mark in the art world.
Ellen Starr Lyon, Elizabeth Peña-Alvarez, Jocelyn Russell, Brooks Cashbaugh, Caity Salamanca, Inna Malostovker, Lydia Dildilian, Susan Feldman, Margeaux Bestard, Dasha Ziborova, Sally Ko, Michael Hubbard, Caitlin Curtis, Dawn Harmer, Laurence de Valmy, Brian Christensen, Mikel Frank, Paul Lorenz, Jessi Olarsch, Hanna Gudjonson, Sima Schloss, Cesar Conde, Chris Weller, and Beth Kamhi
by
Victoria J FryBelonging is a virtual exhibition centered on the power of art to cultivate connection and community. Transcending the limits of culture and language, visual art is a medium that connects us through our shared human experience–providing an opportunity to better understand ourselves and the world around us. For this exhibition we’re featuring work that fosters a sense of belonging between the artist and viewer by speaking to both our individual and collective experiences.
Celine Fournier, Henry Morales, Jennifer Small, Kim Hopson, Xinchen Li, Paula E Borsetti, Jennifer Berkowitz, Olivia Pestova, Ming Wang, Sherri Carling, Heidi Brueckner, Katrina Niswander, Shawna Miller, Pauline Emilie Bird, Petra Schott, Christina Kent, Dara Lo, Marie-José Robinson Kafri, Tara Carpenter Estrada, Brian Flaherty, Isabel Yong, Morgan Bukovec, Paula Valenzuela, Deborah Wasserman, Vanessa Fischer, Jill Haas, Liana Bak, Paulina Ree, Vanessa Wenwieser, Maya Sumile, Lawre Stone, Bella Aurora, Nicole Duet, Sarah Fishbein, Juliet Martin, Vivian Cavalieri, Steph Blondet, Karen Ösp PálsdóttirSarita Dey, Grace Tasel, Kayley Jane Dykman, Monica Srivastava, Molly Mansfield, Kelsey Mata Foote, Meredith Walker, Georgina O’Brien, Claudia Kaak, Joshua Masters, Sahar Alizadeh
www.kimhopsonstudio.com
kimhopsonstudio
Kim Hopson is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY. In her work she explores themes of disability, otherness, and ableist bias in society. Experiencing life with a limb difference has given her a unique perspective that is reflected in her paintings, drawings and collages. Her intention is to create dialogue around these topics in order to spark a larger conversation. Hopson has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally. Notable group exhibitions in New York City include the 19th Annual Small Works Show at 440 Gallery, Labor at Spoke the Hub, Time/ Space at Compère Collective, and First Come, First Hung at B Dry Goods. Additionally, Hopson’s work has been selected for the Kyoto Shibori Museum in Japan as part of their On Motherhood exhibition curated by Ongoing Conversation, as well as the virtual show Cut, Torn & Mended at Spilt Milk Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her inaugural solo exhibition, Sweater Weather, was presented at Spoke the Hub in January of 2023. Further, Hopson has been featured in numerous publications including New Visionary and Women United Art Magazine. Hopson received her BFA from Texas State-San Marcos, and her M.Ed from the University of Houston with a concentration in Museum Education. She is a founding member of The Mother Creatrix Collective, a cohort of artist mothers in NYC. Currently she is an artist in The Canopy Program 2023-2024 through the NYC Crit Club.
In her work, Kim Hopson deconstructs the impact of disability, sharing the lived experience of existing in a body that is different—what it looks like, what it feels like. She dismantles signifiers of personal and cultural importance, such as pom poms and drill-team imagery, through painting, collage, and drawing. She layers rigid black-andwhite imagery against bright colors and bold textures to represent that contrast. Her artwork also revisits episodic memory—particularly remembrance of body shame.
Hopson explores flashbacks from her youth and the identities that were placed on her as a disabled teen with a limb difference in an insular community, when she did not yet have the tools to express her fear,rage, and sadness. She utilizes pom-pom imagery repeatedly as a visual symbol of conformity in her adolescence and transformation in her present identity.
Hopson’s work finds a thread of transcendence, mapping the journey of the self. The intention behind her work is to examine and unthread the complexities of identity. It is a celebration of her body and her otherness, as well as a testament to the changes underneath the skin, beyond what is seen.
karen-palsdottir.com kronosp
Karen Ösp Pálsdóttir (b.1992) received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 2013. Her paintings have been exhibited in galleries in New York, Baltimore, Washington DC, Reykjavík, London, Barcelona, and Annecy. Karen’s paintings have been featured in various publications such as New American Paintings, Create! Magazine, Tibia Magazine, SFMOMA, Hyperallergic, and El País. Karen explores various subjects through a Cobalt Blue lens in her most recent monochromatic oil paintings.
Inspired by the delicate interplay of elasticity and depth, Karen Palsdottir’s work explores the nuanced language of cobalt blue—the range of its dark, velvety hues and soft zeniths. With the throughline of the color running through the series, each composition becomes part of a larger exploration of temporality and impermanence. This “modern, improved blue,” as the chemist George Field described it, demonstrates the power of monochromatic simplicity and invites the viewer to peer through a singular lens, akin to an optical filter. Blue star ferns, which recur throughout, emerge as a fusion of transparency and distortion. The plant stands as a quiet observer of the evolving lucidity of the human condition and the dance between what is and what might be.
Designed and led by our founder Victoria J. Fry, The Visionary Community is our online community membership for women & non-binary emerging artists who are ready to grow together in a supportive group environment.
www.sandylang.art sandy_lang_art
Inspired by the ambivalent in between, Sandy Lang imagines her painted figures as allegories of the human condition. Influenced by dark fairytales, poetry, symbolism, and historical photographs, she narrates the dualism of being human in figurative paintings that include bold use of shadow and light.
Lang is based in Germany and developed her work for several years before she started showing it in public. Over the last decade, she took part in international group exhibitions and created her first solo exhibition, “Entourage of Light,” in Berlin in 2016. Besides her own projects, she also took part in various collaborations, including production design for two short films and a temporary art group making work about the myth of Marsyas. Since then, she has been featured in magazines and artist directories; she is currently creating a new collection of figurative paintings on the theme of strange encounters for a solo show next year.
SPOTLIGHT ON VISIONARY COMMUNITY ARTIST
yulialavrovaart
“Waves of Emotions” is a part of a ceramics series that explores the complexity of human sentiments, reveals both the universal and the deeply personal. In our society, we’re told to be positive—to not show our weaknesses, sadness, fears, or insecurities. How can we heal and open our hearts if we are not allowed to accept these feelings? Through the interplay of light and shadow, this project metaphorically shows the transformational journey, balancing joy with sorrow and strength with vulnerability. Serving as a mirror, this work reflects both unique individual stories and the shared human experience that unites us.
Yulia Lavrova born in 1987 in Togliatti, U.S.S.R., holds an M.F.A. in Graphic Design. After a successful career as a designer and art director, she returned to her true passion, art. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions in Paris, Vilnius, and Saint Petersburg. Lavrova lives and works in Berlin.
SPOTLIGHT
www.soniaredfern.com soniaredfern
Sonia Redfern is a New York City-based painter exploring landscapes on reclaimed fabrics, continuing a matrilineal history of working with textiles. She sources materials from discarded clothing, linens, or bolts of fabric. Her subject matter is taken from her own photographs of places where she has experienced an awe-inspiring immersion in nature. The pattern of the fabric remains unpainted in areas, standing in for sky, water, or land. Having initially studied astronomy, Redfern sees the fabric patterns as representative of the cosmic microwave background— the energy from the Big Bang that still permeates the universe. Her work invites the viewer to consider the cosmic energy that envelops the entirety of the planet.
Redfern has exhibited nationally and internationally, including in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and South Korea. Her work is held in private collections throughout the United States, as well as in South Korea and Israel.
SPOTLIGHT ON VISIONARY COMMUNITY ARTIST
www.joyceyiu.com joyceyiuvisualart
Joyce Yiu resides in Toronto. Her work explores figuration against abstract backgrounds. Shapes,color, and composition play a big part in her work. These characteristics are influenced by her studies in music and English literature during her university years.
Yiu’s subjects stand tall. In the collection “Rhapsody,” her figures give a proudand positive vibe. Whether it is the way they walk or the way they cast their glances, it says it is alright to have ambition. It is alright to pursue dreams. It is alright to be strong and competitive. It is alright to be visible.
Now embarking on a new series, “Freedom,” Yiu has started to accentuate her figures with bold color. The first painting in the series,“Emerge,” transmits positive energy oviewers.
We are proud to feature a wide range of talented artists in the Visionary Art Collective Directory. Coming to you from numerous states and nations, our directory artists work across a wide range of mediums and disciplines.
visionaryartcollective.com/directory
www.thomasflynnii.com thomasflynnii
Thomas Flynn II (b.1994) is a painter originally from smalltown Texas who is now based in Atlanta, Georgia. He has exhibited work both nationally and internationally, including in shows at Artfields, MINT Gallery, and Vaughn Art Gallery. His work has been featured in numerous art publications, including Friend of the Artist Vol 18 and New Visionary Magazine, and is held in private and public collections across the world, including the Savannah College of Art and Design’s permanent collection. Flynn received a B.F.A. in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in 2016. He has recently published a hardcover art book of his work with Snap Collective. In 2023, he opened his first solo show, titled “to catch the sun dreaming,” which included more than fifty works. In 2024, he was selected for the prestigious SCAD Alumni Atelier program. Flynn is currently a studio artist at MINT Atlanta.
In the face of ecological grief and urban encroachment, I have dedicated my work to preserving the changing landscape as a mirror to an internal world full of personal history. Through a blend of unique techniques and observations of color influenced by chronic aura migraines, I seek to create poignant artifacts of the landscape that
serve as records of our time, weaving together threads of loss, exploration, nostalgia, and the delicate balance between truth and illusion in our ever-changing world. I tend to view each painting created in nature as an active interaction with the natural world. I often will mix river waters, found clay, and natural pigments into the paint and onto the canvas, using found objects to scrape and manipulate the paint to reveal and obscure layers underneath. I work on flat canvases that have exposed torn edges – like a swatch taken from nature, threads hanging loose, its silhouette not exactly square. The tactile paintings dry slowly exposed to the night air, allowing the dew to keep the acrylic paint wet for hours. In this sense, my paintings become artifacts of the landscape and can preserve the specifics of a place and time via a distinctly human way of perceiving and experiencing nature. Recently, I’ve been incorporating shapes, panels, and natural wood to help add to this narrative in new ways.
My understanding of color comes from the direct observation of unique optical color observations that are omnipresent in my vision. For the past 10 years, I have experienced chronic aura migraines, for the last 10 years which cause almost constant overlays of “afterimages” onto my field of vision. My paint handling emphasizes colorful mark making, relying on gravity and chemistry to render observed and imagined abstracted landscapes and botanicals. There is always a tension between my colors, between what is “true” and what is “illusion.”. The fact that my sight can illuminate time-based color relationships is not isolated from the fact that my sight is often filled with illusions and distortions of my field of vision.
Fueled by the urgency to document a world on the brink of change, each painting becomes a dynamic interaction with nature, embodying the collaboration between human intention and the unpredictable forces of the environment. In essence, my paintings become artifacts, not just of landscapes but of the intricate dance between human perception and the ever-evolving world around us.
www.spiritisaboneart.com spirit_is_a_bone_art
Naomi Thornton is a mixed-media artist, grandmother, and psychotherapist living in the expansive beauty of Northwest Montana. In her art, she explores the juxtaposition of these roles. Naomi finds her passion close to the earth, having lived off the grid while raising her three children. She was a longtime director at a local feminist organization working to address issues of poverty and injustice and currently has a small private therapy practice.
She has exhibited locally in the solo shows “Warrior Women” at the Zootown Arts Community Center and “Healing Our Inner Child” at Butterfly Herbs, and in juried group shows at Zootown Arts Community Center, Frame of Mind Gallery, and, most recently, in “WILD WONDROUS WORLD” at Radius Gallery. She has also exhibited nationally in exhibits by Anthropology of Motherhood, as well as in the international online shows “Dreamland” and “Home” by Arts to Hearts Project and “Surrounded by Nature” by Art Mums United. In print, she has been featured in Photo Trouvée Magazine, Issue 7, The Huts, Vol. 4, and Why Collage, Issue 2.
Over the past several years, my concerns about the climate crisis have influenced my art, as have political divisions across the globe and the erosion of rights that women have fought to secure.
These concerns were the catalyst for my “Warrior Women” series. In my art, I emphasize the collective power and determination of women globally and historically. I am drawn to portrait photography, knowing that a photograph is a moment in time, capturing a real person with a unique story. The photographs I find are embedded within a specificn historical and /cultural context. Some portraits occur within the experience of privilege, while others are shaped by colonization and exploitation. I seek to amplify feminine women’s voices, past and present, and to reclaim the undervalued stories of women’s everyday experiences. I use found images from magazines, books, and online resources, combined with paint, handmade papers, and text from old books, to build an environment that safely “holds” each woman, wherein she is connected physically, emotionally, and spiritually to the animals, plants, and the landscape. Historically, women have always played a large role as environmental activists, community builders, and peace keepers. I work in an intuitive way, letting the images “speak” to me while researching the stories they capture about women of that time and locality. As a psychotherapist, I have witnessed the incredible resiliency of human beings to heal and reach toward wholeness. In my art, I seek to reflect that part of the human spirit
1 ROBIN ADLER
robinadlerart.com
robinadlerart
Robin Adler is a Woodstock, New York-based abstract artist who transcribes emotional experience into visual form, while expressing boundless enthusiasm for abstraction. Using line, shape, and color, she works intuitively, pushing past limitations toward possibility. Adler explores her inner landscape and the natural environment for inspiration. Her intention is to create an interaction between the viewer and the work, to find commonality that extends both beneath and beyond language.
2 SUNNY ALTMAN
www.sunnyaltman.com
sunnyaltmanartstudio_
My art is inspired by nature and its spiritual connection to human life. My work celebrates the natural world and its profound impact on human experiences. I use a combination of mediums and techniques to bring to life the emotional depth and spiritual connections in all living things, inspiring viewers to appreciate and cherish the beauty of the world around us while reflecting on the deeper aspects of our existence.
3 JAYN ANDERSON
www.jaynandersonart.com
jaynandersonart
Jayn Anderson is a North Carolina-based abstract painter. Her work is inspired by life experiences, emotions, music and how they all relate to fundamental humanness. She creates to uncover the deeply personal and at times, uncomfortable parts of life. Through her work, she strives to present a visual language that we can all relate to on a deeper level. Jayn’s desire is to provide a safe space for others to feel the freedom and vulnerability to connect to their innermost thoughts through art.
4
www.phyllisandersonart.com
phyllisandersonart
Phyllis Anderson is an award-winning artist who divides her time between Colorado and New Jersey. She received a BFA at the University of Texas, and later studied at the Art Students League in New York. Her current multi-media paintings are landscapes which invoke dreams and memory, where a threatened wilderness has become an idea, mythic, legendary, unreal. Fantastic color, image fragmentation, and scribbled lines create romantic, mysterious works. Phyllis’s paintings are shown regularly in Philadelphia, and at RGallery in Boulder, CO. Her work is available at Framewerx Gallery in Winter Park, CO, and is in several private & corporate collections.
www.rebeccaannanart.com
rebecca_annan_art
Rebecca Annan is a multi-disciplinary artist from England, U.K. who returned to her art practice in 2021 after a decade in nursing. She is inspired by the world around her to create art that captures the temporal and impermanent.
Her most recent series “Look Above” focuses on the transitionary time of dusk as the trees become silhouettes against the sky- instilling a moment of peace and reflection as the day turns into night.
www.allisonbelolanart.com
allisonbelolanart
Allison Belolan, an award-winning artist, creates mixed-media abstract landscapes using handmade paper and repurposed materials. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in Printmaking and later earned a Master of Arts in Teaching Art Education from the School of Visual Arts. Based in Mamaroneck, New York, she collaborates with collectors, curators, and industry professionals for commissions and licensing. Her work is featured in art fairs and galleries across the United States.
Tune in to hear uplifting conversations with the most inspirational visionaries in today’s art world. Now available on iTunes, Spotify, and anywhere podcast episodes are streamed.
New Visionary Podcast is hosted by Victoria J. Fry, artist & founder of VAC. Based in New York City, Victoria interviews creative individuals from around the world in our new podcast series.
7 ASHLEY
ashleyblanton.com
faint.as.fog
Ashley Blanton is entangled in a desire to find magic in the mundane, for looking closely at details and disparate parts helps her cultivate and connect to the sense of wonder that she seeks. Combining watercolor, gouache, cut paper, collage, and transfer techniques, Ashley creates mixed media works on paper that are evocative of emotional and visceral felt senses.
8
www.stephblondet.com
stephblondetart
Steph Blondet is a Puerto Rican artist based in Tampa, FL. Blondet creates textured and dimensional paintings as a form of visual journaling. In her work, Blondet explores themes of personal growth, grief, and the societal pressures placed on women. She creates intuitively and communicates her story through color and composition to reflect the duality of the human experience, and to convey that through darkness there will always be light.
9 SARAH E. BOYLE
saraheboyle.com
saraheboyle_painting
Sarah E. Boyle is a Chicago-based painter who explores place and memory through landscape – alluding to narrative, symbolism, and the tension between knowing a place and translating it with oil paint. Her “Firescapes” series captures the transformation of familiar American West landscapes after recent wildfires. Sarah studied fashion and design at Syracuse University and Ringling School of Art and Design before receiving her BFA at the School of the Art Institute.
10 PAULETTA BROOKS
www.paulettabrooks.com
PBWearableArt
Pauletta Brooks is a jewelry artist who also branches out into other mediums. Her designs, under the label Pauletta Brooks Wearable Art, involve the use of raw minerals and gemstones set in unique and unusual ways. She is known primarily for her inventive use of thermoplastic resin, creating meshlike sculptural webs that house the minerals and stones. Her work has been featured in numerous magazines, journals, and galleries throughout the US and abroad. She resides in New York City.
11 OWEN BURNHAM
www.owenburnham.com
owen.burnham
Owen Burnham is a Brooklyn based photographer and multimedia visual artist creating from the investigation of movement and abstract imagery. Spanning photography, painting, and collage their practice contextualizes motion as a means to abstractly deconstruct identity. Collections are reflections, reclamations - who and what makes us move? An NYU Tisch Alumni (BFA, Dance), they currently capture New York City dance, with their visual art collections showcased in various virtual exhibitions.
ingridbutterer.com ingridbutterer.art
Ingrid Butterer is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York. She earned her B.F.A. from the University of Michigan and EdM from Columbia University, Teachers College. Her work has been published in Orenda Arts Journal, Quarentine Magazine and Womxn Artist Project. Ingrid’s work has shown at Lincoln Center, A.I.R. Gallery, Atlantic Gallery, 440 Gallery, Benheim Gallery, Kyoto Shibori Museum and Yamashita Gallery (Japan).
musingwomen
I like working with materials that are a little rough, grungy, maybe a little dirty. I juxtapose feminine images from vintage magazines or antique photos next to found material like cardboard, vintage paper and deconstructed book pages. I have been drawn to artistic practices most of my life, even though I have had an eclectic professional life. I have a degree in Art History from the University of Michigan but am mostly a self taught artist. I was born in Detroit, but have lived in Traverse City for 23 years.
www.margotdermody.com
margotdermody
Margot Dermody is a Pittsburgh-based artist whose work primarily focuses on painting and sculpture. She uses abstraction to explore memories and emotions, examining the connections between human experiences and the natural world. She works in stone and glass for sculpture and mixed media for painting. In abstract layers of opacity and translucency, her works ask how to locate beauty in the shadows and bring light into life.
www.jacquelinediesing.com jacquelinediesing
Over the past 10 years in Chicago, IL, I have come to realize I process my feelings and heal myself through my mixed media artwork comprised of detailed, freehand micron ink and soft pastel drawings. My journey began with a desire to restore crumbling, architectural masterpieces in my hometown of Detroit to their former beauty by surrounding them with colorful life. Since then, I have been drawn to examine my own health and healing by digging deeper into issues stemming from childhood. The art I am working on now depicts my path towards wellness.
www.taraesperanza.com taraesperanza
My paintings share my intimate viewpoint of succulents. I feel deeply connected to my subject and I’m inspired by the abundant varieties of textures, colors, forms, and shapes. I imagine myself as a bee as I delve into the plants and explore what they reveal to me. My paintings celebrate the diversity in the world of succulents. They are magnified images that illuminate the distinct beauty that I see.
17 ERIN FRIEDMAN
erinfriedmanart.com erinfriedmanart
Erin Friedman is an abstract artist just outside of Washington, DC in Bethesda, Maryland. Using acrylic paint and oil pastels, Erin’s work is an accumulation of feelings and experiences over time that transfer onto the canvas. Inspiration comes from moments and reactions to everyday life and my emotions. Erin will make marks, alter her ideas, add layers and change directions. We all experience conflict, change, joy and sadness. Erin does her best to embrace this process and allow those feelings to be revealed throughout her work.
18 LUCY JULIA HALE
www.walltowallsecrets.com
Lucy Julia Hale is a Georgia feminist / social activist artist and art educator. She often selects scenes from our cultural archives of mass-produced publications or vintage vernacular snapshots to which she adds drawn, painted, and/or collaged images to portray a deeper history. She serves as an advocate supporting the dignity and wellbeing of vulnerable populations, which unfortunately now include all inhabitants of Earth. Her work has been selected by prominent jurors for numerous national exhibitions. She holds an Ed.S. and an M.Ed. in Counseling and Educational Psychology, and a B.S. Ed. in Art Education.
19 MEAM
meamhartshorn.com meamhartshorn
Meam Hartshorn is an abstract painter. Her work explores the relationship between landscapes, geology, and natural phenomena with expression, emotion, and memory. Her paintings create undulating and constantly deconstructing landscapes that often draw inspiration from the geology and ecosystems of the Western United States. Meam currently lives and works in Austin, TX and she is the founder The Artful Collective, a platform for connecting and supporting emerging artists.
20 ROBERTA HOINESS
www.robertahoiness.com robertahoiness
The world can be a noisy and complex place. I create organic abstract landscape art with the hope of inspiring moments of calm. I layer hand-painted paper, pigment, oil pastels and occasional touches of metallic leaf to recall the “feeling” of a place rather than the details. I am continually inspired by the quiet, stillness & rustic beauty of the Canadian prairies where I live with my husband and three children.
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www.kimhopsonstudio.com kimhopsonstudio
Kim Hopson is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY. In her work she explores themes of ableism, caregiving, and identity. Experiencing life with a disability has given her a unique viewpoint that is reflected in her paintings, drawings and collages. She focuses on the body’s relationship to the world, both physically and emotionally.
22 ANDREA JONES
www.modandart.co.uk andrea_jones_art
I am an artist from Liverpool, England and for the past eleven years I have worked as an art teacher in a prison. My artwork has featured in several magazines of art and literature in the U.S., U.K. and Berlin, Germany. One particular style that I work in is based on my alter ego, this is inspired by wanting to be somebody else, taking elements from different people to create new characters, I call these characters my alter ego people. The images are painted in acrylic on canvas or drawn onto paper.
23 ZARA KAND
www.zarakand.com zarakandart
Zara Kand is an oil painter based in Southern California. She has exhibited throughout numerous venues within the US and has been featured in many online and print publications across the globe. Her work is often highly symbolic and focuses on figurative elements within dreamy environments. She currently lives in the hi-desert, spending her time painting, art writing for various art magazines, and dabbling in curatorial projects. She is also the editor of The Gallerist Speaks, an international interview series focusing on gallery directors, arts organizers and curators.
24 DIANE LAMBOLEY
www.dianelamboley.com dianelamboley
Diane Lamboley is a contemporary photographer who strives to brighten the lives of others by helping them free their imaginations from the cage of their conditioning. She embraces adventure and finds much of her inspiration exploring the beauty earth offers. Lamboley is called to capture the wonders of nature through her photographs which are digitally transformed for people to experience a visual journey. Her artwork is printed on aluminum enhancing the contemporary feel.
25 SANDY LANG
www.sandylang.art sandy_lang_art
Creating is like telling yourself a tale of the world you feel. Born 1980 I am a self taught artist located in Germany. I mostly work with oil colours since I love their brightness and texture. It allows me to explore strong dark and light effects and to express the themes my paintings deal with. Being a lover of symbolism, I am working with allegories in a figurative manner of painting with a very personal approach to themes such as shadow and light, memories in time, and love – or its absence.
26 CHARLES LEAK
charlesleakstudio.com charlesleakstudio
Charles Leak (b. 1953, Dallas, Tx ) is an artist who lives and works in New York City and East Hampton. He combines oil paint, enamel, gold, copper powder, and graphite on canvas and paper. “I am influenced by all the great artists from Da Vinci to Diebenkorn. And all the great writers, musicians, and filmmakers. But more importantly, my greatest influence is the wonderful natural world we were given that surrounds us all”
27 MONA LERCH
monalerch.com monalerchwallart
Mona Lerch is a contemporary visual artist and founder of Art Mums United and Women United ART MOVEMENT, residing in the Czech Republic. Mona began her art journey as an abstract oil painter; however, her creative passions and love for experimentation led her into watercolor botanical illustration and portraits, linocut prints, collages and acrylics. In her current body of work, Mona steps away from abstract landscapes and focuses on the female form. Natural elements play a vital part in many of these pieces. It’s her means of emphasizing the connection with our surroundings that enables us to stay grounded.
28 LAUREN LEWCHUK
www.artbylewchuk.com
art_by_lewchuk
Texas-based artist Lauren Lewchuk is a self-taught creative inspired by nature. Her work ranges from small-scale paintings to large-scale murals. She creates detailed and elaborate compositions that are inspired by nature, micro-organisms and nature macro-photography. Use of color, movement, flow, patterns and repetition are important visual elements in her work that symbolize underlying themes having to do with mental states of being, identity, societal expectations, personal boundaries, spirituality, and existentialism.
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29 JODI MILLER
www.jodimillerfineart.com jodimillerfineart
Jodi Miller is a Canadian prairie-based contemporary, impressionist painter. Her work explores connections with our roots, our stories and our surroundings. Drawing on her childhood on a family farm and years spent in the Royal Canadian Air Force across Canada, her landscapes are familiar yet fictitious. “Each painting begins with a memory, then evolves to tell a story of its own.” Jodi’s work focuses on human connections as observed through our environment using the metaphor of our imprints on the land as an entry point for personal narratives.
30 NICOLE MILLER
www.nicolemillerart.com nicolemillerartist
Nicole Miller is an artist who shares her passion through teaching. With degrees in Studio Art, Interior Design, and Education, her artwork reflects a journey filled with joy, happiness, and gratitude. Using brayer techniques combined with oil pastels and acrylic paints, Nicole explores organic objects and pushes the boundaries of color saturation. Each piece is thoughtfully crafted, with heavy influences from her family and life experiences.
31 STEPHANIE MULVIHILL
stephaniemulvihill.com smulvihillart
A New York City-based artist and educator, Stephanie Mulvihill works primarily with the drawn image on paper because of its tactile surface and fragile, impermanent quality. By drawing with graphite, she taps into the tradition of drawing as a means of investigation and dissection of both nature and ourselves. In her work, Stephanie explores themes of creation, motherhood and personal evolutions: physical, spiritual and intellectual. Visual references to the body and internal anatomy overlap, meld and transform to create totems honoring our individual and collective transformations.
32 JENNIFER AGRICOLA MOJICA
jenniferagricolamojica.com jenniferagricolamojica
Jennifer Agricola Mojica is a contemporary painter, educator, and mother based in San Antonio, Texas. She has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her paintings can be found in private collections and has been featured in multiple publications. In her process, a painting begins with a disruptive start and ends with a harmonious stillness. Planes shift and shapes repeat, forms are portrayed at different vantage points, and figures become fragmented. The chaos then becomes a calm meditative process as she weaves concepts and elements together.
33 RACHEL MORRISSEY
www.rachelmo.com rachelmorrisseyart
Rachel Morrissey is based in Massachusetts. She received her MFA in 2016 from MassArt. Morrissey makes highly saturated narrative paintings that employ organic forms to convey her daily experiences, which include motherhood, anxiety and more recently, life with a chronic illness. The motifs oscillate along the continuum of her lived experience, love and joy at one end and utter despair at the other. She is represented by Voltz Clarke Gallery and 19 Karen.
www.camillemylesart.com
camillemylesart
Camille Myles is an emerging Canadian contemporary artist living on the shores of Georgian Bay in Tiny, Ontario. Park Superintendent & formerly an archaeologist, Myles has a deep connection to nature & history bringing hope and transformation to her community. Working in painting, sculpture, installation and public art, she creates conversations about identity, motherhood and celebrates change and growth in her work. She’s exhibited extensively and is part of private collections internationally.
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ruchitanewrekar.com/contemporary-works ruchitajewlery
Ruchita Newrekar is a jewelry designer and contemporary jewelry artist. She uses jewelry as a platform to explore thoughtprovoking concepts. Her designs express the undeniable existence of connections and how their effects play a significant role in making us human. Each piece she creates is a visual narrative, an invitation to reflect upon the interconnectedness that underlies our existence, symbolizing the intricate web of relationships that shape our lives.
www.jessicaoliveiraart.com
jessica.oliveiraart
Imitating the unreliable and fluctuating nature of her memory, Jessica Oliveira (b. 2000, Yonkers, NY) works to develop worlds that can be explored and experiences that can be rediscovered. In remembering, we can reflect and in reflection we can learn. Jessica is assessing how different people, places and objects are remembered and what happens to her memory over time.
www.rebeccapotts.com pottsart
Rebecca Potts Aguirre is an artist based in Southern California. She explores themes of motherhood and gendered labor, memory and visibility, trauma and healing. She sculpts polymer clay and play-dough, building “paintings” with slight relief. Her materials draw connections to craft and childhood, while her imagery reflects flickering memories and the early fog of motherhood. Through her art practice, she seeks connection and asks: how do connections persist?
www.paulinaree.com
adiosalasfresas
Paulina Ree is an Oslo-based painter, educator, curator, and the founder of Female Artists Oslo (FAO). Her focus is on looking at life through the prism of the female experience. She reflects and works towards understanding the complexity of being a human, and uses it in her art as a way to both explore and provoke contemplation about societal expectations and the quest for selfunderstanding and acceptance.
michellereevesart.com
michellereevesartnashville
Michelle is a botanical/floral artist who lives with her husband and son in Nashville, TN. She began painting at the age of 52 after a gentleman asked, “What are you passionate about?” during a job interview. This question led Michelle back to school to pursue an Interior Design degree, but through coursework she started to paint. Her latest paintings are inspired by pages from her childhood coloring books. Bold outlines of brush strokes and intricate backgrounds fill the canvas.
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brittanymreid.com
brittany.m.reid
Brittany M. Reid lives and works in Rochester, New York. Reid’s creative process was supercharged when she began working with collage, leading her to create over 200 pieces within only two years of adopting the new medium. Blending the feelings that different images hold into one artwork creates both a story and an experience. Her own experience as a queer, Black woman and mother flows into her work, imbuing her work with both individual and universal layers.
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www.maddiereiss.com
maddiereissart
Maddie is a landscape painter based in Greater Philadelphia. She works primarily in acrylic but enjoys sketching in ink and watercolor. Nature and wildlife are her main sources of inspiration, but she also relies on words, song lyrics, and poetry to guide the look, feel, and mood of her visual work. Her current collection of paintings is centered on western landscapes from her travels, featuring scenes from Arizona, Colorado, and Big Sur.
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www.mariaisabelrodriguez.com
mariaisabel_art
Maria Isabel Rodriguez resides in Montreal, Canada and her interest is in destigmatizing mental illness using flowers as an analogy for the resilience of the human mind and spirit. Growing up amidst the turmoil of the civil war in Guatemala (her native country) and facing the challenges of mental health within her family, have developed in her a deep appreciation for the transformative power of art.
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www.hannahrosenbaumartwork.com
hani.rosenbaum
Hani Rosenbaum works in a variety of mediums, from abstract acrylic paintings, to illustrations, and more recently intaglio etching designs. Hani’s visual art explores themes around magic, surrendering to nature, celebration of queerness, transitional shifts, and are rooted in continuous self-discovery. She states: “This work has allowed myself a lens for curiosity to bloom and reflect back to me as a way to understand my own identity and inner landscapes.”
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www.ajschnettler.com
ajschnettler
www.erinmonetwheary.com erinwheary
Erin Monet Wheary is an interdisciplinary artist. Her work explores concepts of growth and decay and order and chaos. “Visual art is my lens to see and understand the physical world and humanity.”
AJ Schnettler is a nonbinary, multi-racial photographer and printmaker born and raised on Long Island. They decided to get a new perspective on life and education by moving to pursue their B.F.A. degree in Photography with a minor in Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2019. Their work is based around what one does to provide self-acceptance. Working through identity or the space surrounding them; how to feel at peace overcoming negative, social, and cultural pressure. 44
Wheary’s recent exhibitions include the Female Artists Club, Belgium, and a site-specific installation at Swarthmore College. Artist residencies include Chateau d’Orquevaux, France (2020) and Casa Taller El Boga, Colombia (2023). She currently teaches at Western New Mexico University.
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46 LAURA CLEARY WILLIAMS
www.lauraclearywilliams.com
lauraclearywilliams
Laura Cleary Williams’ abstract spaces are an ode to an imperfect language. Through motion, she makes marks that translate thought - subconscious – a viscerally understood language. Williams works from her hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 2009 she received her B.F.A. from Tufts University and the SMFA, Boston and her Master’s in Printmaking in 2012 at SCADAtlanta. Williams founded, managed, and coowned Straw Hat Press, which specialized in fine art publishing and contract printing.
47 YAHEL YAN
www.yahelyan.com
yahel.yan.art
Yahel Yan lives in San Diego, but she was born and raised in Mexico City. She specializes in oil, acrylics and copper etchings. Her palette and compositions lend life and spirit to inanimate objects which are often overlooked. Yahel is always seeking to express the unexpected, unseen hidden magic of “thing.” She gives her imagination full freedom to pursue this mysterious journey. Yahel strives to create colorful happy art that brings joy to the viewer; a recurring theme in her art are chairs, which have become a staple of her work.
48 KATIE DUMESTRE YAQUINTO katiedyaquinto.com katiedumestreyaquinto
Katie Dumestre Yaquinto is a contemporary artist based in New Orleans. She attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and LSU where she studied fashion design and merchandising. My work primarily focuses on introspection. My practice allows me to process and express my innermost thoughts and feelings through various brush strokes and mark making. These distinctive marks have become my own private visual language and have developed over time through body movement and muscle memory
49 ZIFENG ZANG
www.zifengzang.com zifengzang
Zifeng Zang, an abstract painter based in Philadelphia, passionately explores the intuitive sense of color and how nature inspires and informs her work. Her love for art began at a young age, leading to dual BFA degrees from Jilin University in China and West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Her extensive career experience in graphic design and brand management in China honed her skills, but she always felt drawn to traditional painting. Now, Zifeng focuses on developing her favorite abstract style, a universal language for expressing personal experiences and emotions through color and form, connecting viewers to the natural world.
50 JOSEFINA ZORRILLA DE SAN MARTIN
www.josefinazorrilla.com
josefinaz.art
Josefina Zorrilla de San Martin is a South American painter born in Uruguay and living in Maui, Hawaii. She is deeply inspired by the contrasts in Nature as a reflection of the dualities that exist in us. Working intuitively across multiple pieces she works fast, applying random marks and loose brushstrokes. She describes her process like a dance, every move is a reaction to the previous one.
