Photographed by: Roz Akin

An artist friend sent me January greetings, wishing me a year of wit and vigor. Thinking of those words as we slowly emerge from a pandemic, it struck me as the perfect title for this group of four artists whose mental inventiveness, intelligence, energy, and intense practice offers us new insights and ways of seeing as we move into still uncharted territory. Evidence of the artist’s hand is integral to each of these artists, their gestures, erasures, layering, and juxtapositions allow for unexpected moments that encourage us to employ the multiplicity of our own creative eye as viewers.

Shelley Himmelstein paints to create a space to inhabit, to be in the moment, looking for characteristics that mix the everyday and the transcendent, the scripted and the spontaneous. The series shown here is based on her passion for and ritual viewing of The World Cup. Using watercolor for its fluidity and speed, each painting stops time for just a moment of a title match between countries, capturing the experience without presenting actual narrative. Shelley received her BFA from Sarah Lawrence College, studied at Tyler School of Art in Rome, and received her MFA from Hunter College in NY. She lives and works in both NY and Italy and has exhibited regularly since the 1980s, notably at Casina Pompeiana, Naples, Italy; Ben Shahn Galleries, Wayne, NJ; Magazzini Criminali, Sassuolo, Italy; Elizabeth Harris Gallery, NYC; NurtureArt in Brooklyn; Sideshow Gallery, NYC and Figureworks, Brooklyn. Her work is featured in two monographs published by Editorial Grupo Pandora of Sevilla.

Cordy Ryman’s work was recently reviewed by poet/critic John Yau in Hyperallergic “What Ryman brings to the table is a sense of humor marked by a refusal to regard the role of the artist too seriously......” Cordy’s practice is process oriented. He is concerned with formal qualities and compositional strategy, while still relying on his intuitive ability to embrace chance in his work. Purposefully using and re-using elements from older works, they are reconfigured to create something new, while at the same time retaining a glimpse of their history. Cordy, based in NYC, received his BFA. from the School of Visual Arts, NYC. He had a solo show at Freight and Volume in NYC in 2021, and his work has been exhibited at numerous institutions including the Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY; Bronx River Arts Center, Bronx, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT; Esbjerg Museum of Modern Art, Esbjerg, Denmark; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, and MoMA PS1 in NY. His work is in notable collections, among them the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, FL; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, CA; Microsoft Art Collection; Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; Raussmüller Collection, Basel, Switzerland; The Speyer Family Collection, NY, and the Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL

Linda Schrank’s paintings almost seem to breathe along with us. Their intense color, interplay of marks and layered spaces create an immediate sense of animation. Looking at them is a complex visual experience - each mark engages the surface with gesture and movement so we can almost feel her hand confidently skating the oilstick across the surface or using a range of finger-like tools to create grid-like skeins of color. Linda lives and works in New York City and Tuscany. She has exhibited internationally since 1978, most recently at Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC (through April 23); Spazio E_EMME, Sardinia; and The Piero della Francesca Foundation, Sansepolcro, Italy. Her work is included in major public collections, including the Brooklyn Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Harvard University; Library of Congress; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University; Princeton University; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Museum of Ceramics,Torgiano, Italy; Museo Regionale della Ceramica, Deruta, Italy; Pratt Institute; The International Museum of the Woman in Art, Abruzzo, Italy; The Morgan Library and Museum, NYC; The New York Public Library; University of Houston; and Smith College Museum of Art.

Sarah Tortora looks at the past and brings it forward. Her sculptures mime canonical sculpture, urban infrastructure, or museological display. She describes the works shown here as facsimiles of archetypal objects or imposters of icons. Their resolute awkwardness references cultural displacement, while her use of simple DIY materials raises questions about the weighty legacy of these structures. Sarah received her BA from S. Connecticut State University and her MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been exhibiting her work regularly, most recently in solo exhibitions at Pink Noise Projects in Philadelphia (2018), Vermont Studio Center (2018) and C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore (2020). She has had numerous international residencies, notably in Athens, Greece and Barcelona, Spain, as well as at MacDowell Colony, Yaddo and Skowhegan in the US. She has a 2-person exhibition opening next month at Stove Works in Chattanooga, TN.

Fran Kaufman, April 2022
Please email fran@kv-projects.com to schedule an appointment and for additional information.