Laura Alexander received a MFA in Fibers from the University of Washington, Seattle
and a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She has shown her
work nationally in venues such as the Henry Art Gallery (Seattle), Grand Rapids
Museum of Art, Columbus Museum of Art, and The Museum of Design, Atlanta. She
has been awarded artistic excellence grants from the Greater Columbus Arts Council
(GCAC) and the Ohio Arts Council.
Laura Alexander's work is driven by wonder. She plays off the intrinsic qualities of
materials creating a vocabulary that is her own. She hand cuts paper and builds layers
to manipulate light and shadows. The shadows themselves are as much part of the piece as the art that casts them. The color in her work is reflected off the back of the paper.
The work is labor intensive and precise while remaining playful and fresh.
Medium: Hand Cut Paper and Acrylic | Size: 38 x 38 x 3" | Value: $3500 | Gallery:
Hammond Harkins Galleries | http://studiosweetstudio.com
Joe is a nationally recognized commercial artist, designer and illustrator. He has won numerous awards for his commercial work, including 84 Gold Addies and 2 Best of Show Awards from the Columbus Advertising Federation.
In 2009, Joe began doing portraits of the homeless people he works with on the streets of Columbus, which culminated in a show/fundraiser called "Art & Soul - An Intimate Portrait,” which raised almost $40,000 for charity and brought much needed awareness to the plight of those people living on our streets. “This man came up to me at The Open Shelter and Said,"I bet bet you ain't never seen no shirt like this before." Then he just stood there and posed for me.”
Medium: Painting | Size: 22 x 27" | Value: $2200 | Gallery: Hayley Gallery
Jim Arter is a Columbus based visual artist, painter and sculpture. He is the Associate Artist for the Community Arts Education Program of the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Arter is co-founder off the Children of the Future program, an arts based after school program for inner-city youth ages five to twelve. Arter is one of the original designers for “Art for Life”, an art auction that benefits Equitas Health, formerly Columbus AIDS Task Force, and has been a contributing artist since its inception.
Arter is the recipient of the 2007 Columbus AIDS Task Force’s “People’s Choice Award”, the “South Side Settlement House 2005 Arts Freedom Award”, the “2004 Governor’s Award for Art in Education”, 2004 “Director’s Award” from the Columbus AIDS Task Force, the Ohio Art League’s 2000 Outstanding Contributions to the Arts Award”, and the “Honored Artist Award” from the Arts Foundation of Olde Towne for his “dedicated and untiring efforts to better the community through the arts”.
Medium: Metal/Wood | Size: 3' x 1' | Value: $3000
Veena Bansal has been a resident of Columbus, OH for 48 years. She has a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from India. Bansal has been showing her work at Marcia Evans Gallery in the Short North Arts District periodically and she has showed at Barcelona Restaurant. She has had great success in the past 30 years she has produced customized artwork according to people’s wishes. Bansal prefers to work with oil medium and large pieces.
Bansal is currently showing 20 paintings at John Glenn Columbus International Airport, recommended by Ohio Art League. Art is her passion and it has become a way of life.
Medium: Oil | Size: 24 x 36" | Value: $1000 | Gallery: Marcia Evans Gallery
Mary Barczak brings her dark humor and perspective with her into all aspects of her life, including her art. Involvement with her community is incredibly important to her. She has partnered with many women, art, and freedom of speech organizations. Her hunger for knowledge is a driving force that is reflected in her love of the written word and improving her mind. She currently resides in Columbus, OH.
Barczak explains the story behind her piece: “I met Dejuan Sharp on January 6th, 2021 outside my friend’s home as he was her neighbor. He said that he was walking down to the Statehouse building to counter-protest the Proud Boys and I gave him a ride. I wanted to go with him, however, I had just the last May been severely beaten and arrested during the BLM Protests while photographing, and my partner swore me that he had to come with me if I protested. So I made sure that he was meeting up with friends and that he had a safety plan. Then I was texted that he disappeared, no one could find him. Finally someone said that there was a black man circled by a large group of Proud Boys kicking and beating a man at the Statehouse. For hours we did not know whether he was alive or dead. Luckily, he was found. There is even video footage that shows this all unfurling while two police officers stand chatting to one another in the background. Dejuan still shows up to protest for Black Lives Matter basically every day and night he can and helped found the Columbus Downtownerz into a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.”
Medium: Marker, gouache, and ink | Size: 30 x 44.5" | Value: $3500 | seemaryart.com
Eric Barth has exhibited extensively in Memphis, TN, Indianapolis, IN, and in New York City at the Allan Stone Gallery. Barth is represented in Columbus, OH by the Keny Galleries.
“Walking the line between abstraction and landscape painting, the work explores the relationship between man and the environment and where we place ourselves in it," says Barth. "These places may appear quiet and serene from a distance, but upon closer inspection one can see the marks that man and industrialization has had on them.”
Medium: Oil pastel and soft pastel on paper, over panel | Size: 12" x 16" | Value: $1750 | Gallery: Keny Galleries | ericbarthstudio.com
Gavin Benjamin is a multifaceted artist who combines original analog photography and appropriated images with collage, paint, and varnish to create rich and luxurious works that call back to baroque traditions while incorporating elements of current culture to provoke, critique, and explore. Benjamin investigates the intersection of culture, media, politics, fashion, and design, addressing questions that (continue to) confront a men of color in America today.
Born in Guyana, South America and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Benjamin received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. During this time, he worked as an interned for the legendary portrait photographer, Arnold Newman.
Medium: Analog photography, appropriated images, and mixed media on panel | Size: 20 x 16" | Value: $2000 | Gallery: Brandt-Roberts Galleries | gavinbenjamin.com
Kirsten Bowen is a painter who lives and works in Harrison, NY. She is a scholarship graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design, and was a gallery owner in Bexley OH between the years of 2004-2007. Her two solo museum exhibitions include the Coral Springs Museum of Art in Florida and the Evansville Museum of Arts History and Science in Indiana. She is represented by Marcia Evans Gallery in Columbus, OH.
“My Green Room Series explores my love for music and lyrical prose,” says Bowen. “I'm especially interested in highlighting game changing artists who shifted our perception of music. This series of portraits is created in a black and white street art style that reflects the ubiquitous band posters of the 80's that were Xeroxed and pasted up everywhere. It is my desire throughout all my work to acknowledge the trials that we all face while simultaneously giving a sense of hope.”
Medium: Venetian plaster | Size: 36" x 36" | Value: $3200 | Gallery: Marcia Evans Gallery | kirstenbowen.com
Adam Brouillette graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 2002. Since his graduation, Brouillette has developed as both a fine artist and a designer, as well as a community organizer. His artistic style features a series of cartoon characters he has developed since college. Adam is the owner of littleINDUSTRIES, a small design firm that does graphic, web, signage, furniture, and environmental design.
“Modes of advertising and design have taken over for religious iconography and realist portriats of everyday life. Cartoons have taken over for Caravaggio and Corbert. The use of art as a communication has changed,” says Brouillete. “I view my work, not as revolutionary, but as a step back in time, knowing what we have learned from our modern forms of communication. I like to use the explosion of color and design that is inherent in advertising and cartoons, to convey the broader ideas of social and personal philosophy, ideas of scientific theory and discovery, and commentary on life as I see it.”
Medium: Latex paint on canvas | Size: 48" x 36" | Value: $1600 | Gallery: Sarah Gormley Gallery | adambrouillette.com
Smoky Brown was born Russell Brown in Dayton, OH on November 28, 1919. His career in art began as an art teacher in the waning days of the Great Depression, and carried over decades. Brown has art in collections all over the world, including the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian. His style of mixed media highlighted Black Culture and the Black Community.
In Brown’s own words from the Judith Fox article “Listening to Smoky“: “As Smoky Brown, I started all over…as a folk artist under the conception that folk art is untrained. There is no such thing as an untrained artist if you are able to talk and communicate. With folk art, you don’t have the rules to go by. You can do your thing as you feel – like a child does.”
Medium: Acrylic on wood panel | Size: 23 x 60" | Value: $350
An Ohio native, Annie Burley received her BFA in Animation and Fine Arts from the Columbus College of Art and Design. Whether creating large figurative sculptures in wood, papier-mâché and yarn, animations, or mixed media works that incorporate animated figures into three-dimensional works of art, her subject is Black female representation. Burley is represented by the Hammond Harkins Gallery.
“Casting Call” is a part of the Anime Omission/Admission series of artworks. The piece has an original character made by the artist named "Aniya" interlaced through a paragraph from the casting call for the movie Straight Outta Compton. Its casting call, known for blatant colorism, is incorporated in the piece. The character instead assumes poses reminiscent of character Ayanami Rei from a Neon Genesis Evangelion. As if to try out for her character instead; while the main pose (being Aniya’s own) sits confidently and boldly over the casting call, poised and still.
Medium: Oil pastel, gold and black lettering stickers | Size: 28 x 20" | Value: $550 | Gallery: Hammond Harkins Galleries | anniechrissyburley.wixsite.com/website
Mark Bush is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design, where he majored in Fine Arts. His focus is in representational painting and drawing. Bush has participated in numerous local and international exhibitions and has earned awards from Ohio and across the country. In 2016, Bush was the proud recipient of the first ever Denny Griffith Peer to Peer Award at Art for Life in Columbus, OH.
“The painting "#Venus" is an interpretation of the classical Venus paintings that depict a female figure reclined in drapery, usually holding a bundle of flowers,” says Bush. "Framed from above, the frontal nature of the picture brings it into the modern era of portraiture. The painting is of the artist's wife, and she holds her phone as a new symbol of the times.”
Medium: Acrylic on canvas | Size: 60 x 36" | Value: $4500 | markbushrealism.com
Michael Bush is a self-taught abstract artist represented by Hayley Gallery in New Albany, OH. Michael's work is rooted in a chase to merge texture and movement while exploring the relationship with color. The piece "The Great Divide" is a color study on the two of America's most polarizing issues.
Medium: Mix Medium | Size: 40 x 30" | Value: $1250 | Gallery: Hayley Gallery | Emptybush.com
Jana Michelle Cardwell is ready to share her art with the world. An artist and art teacher for more than 17 years, Jana attended Columbus College of Art & Design and graduated 1988 with a B.F.A Visual Fine Art degree. Born December 3, 1963, Cardwell is the first of three children born to MSgt. Floyd E White and Pearl Harvenia Hinton-White.
“My art is an extension of me,” says Cardwell. “When I’m drawing & painting I feel elements form from deep inside me through my paint brush onto the canvas.”
Medium: Acrylic & Watercolor paint | Size: 12” x 37” | Value: $500 | @janajai.63
Dale Chihuly was introduced to glass while studying interior design at the University of Washington. After graduating in 1965, Chihuly enrolled in the first glass program in the country, at the University of Wisconsin. He continued his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he later established the glass program and taught for more than a decade. In 1971, Chihuly cofounded Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State. With this international glass center, Chihuly has led the avant-garde in the development of glass as a fine art.
Chihuly’s work is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide. He has been the recipient of many awards, including two fellowshipsfrom the National Endowment for the Arts and twelve honorary doctorates.
Medium: Blown Glass | Size: 11 x 12 x 9" | Value: $8000
Elizabeth Chrisman is a Columbus native and a graduate of St. Mary of the Springs (Ohio Dominican University) where she studied drawing and painting with Sister Eugene DeCleene, O.P. She also is a graduate The Ohio State University Graduate School with a M.A. in Art Education. Chrisman was the Department Chair of the Visual Art, Music and Theatre Departments at Upper Arlington High School.
“I create images that are sometimes chaotic yet disciplined, full of movement, yet in the moment, mentally engaging and saturated with color and texture,” says Chrisman. “I work with acrylic paint occasionally incorporating original stencils, glitter, bits and pieces, stamps, and over-painted images. Presently, I am exploring animals (dogs, in particular) and high calorie, high fructose sweets juxtaposed to almost diabetic heights of ecstasy.”
Medium: Acrylic paint | Size: 18 x 28 x 1" | Value: $900 | Gallery: Sherrie Gallerie
Justin Collamore is an Ohio impressionist painter working mainly plein air in oil and gouache. His aunt who is an artist introduced him to oil painting at a young age. Collamore uses his formal training in architecture and landscape architecture to capture images of rural and industrial buildings and landscapes, often finding beauty in scenes that others may not initially see as traditionally beautiful.
“I am fascinated by the interplay of light, architecture, and the natural environment,” says Collamore. “I spent my childhood in rural northwest Ohio which gave me a deep respect for picturesque barns and farms found through the state, but I am also intrigued by urban and even industrial locations and the edges and transitions between them.”
Medium: Oil on canvas | Size: 12 x 12" | Value: $750 | JustinCollamore.com
In 1990, Alan touched clay for the first time and declared “this is the mistress I’ve traveled the world in search of.” He sold his business interests and dedicated himself to art full-time. Toward that end, Alan moved to New York City and studied at the renowned Art Students League and the National Academy of Design. He also studied Human Anatomy at Columbia Medical Center. Primarily producing commissioned work, Cottrill rarely shows in traditional galleries.
Intense, ambitious, and goal driven, Alan Cottrill has created what may the largest body of work of bronze statues by any living sculptor with commissioned monuments throughout the United States. Alan’s work has been described as being powerful, virile, and full of life, energy, and complexity.
Medium: Bronze | Size: 10 x 23 x 6" | Value: $5000 | Gallery: Sarah Gormley Gallery |
Columbus native DonCee Coulter found his niche in the movement by designing clothes for break-dancers & hip-hop artists. He later formed his own company ‘1201 Art Designs’ and later joined Purpose Magazine as an illustrator & cartoonist. In 2001, Coulter transitioned primarily to working with fabrics:
“My artwork has a unique look that is constantly revolving. Texture plays a major role in the overall appeal of each piece. Leather and suede have been my fabric of choice, as their texture translates well in my pieces. The dominance of warm colors reflects the overall mood of my pieces, and my goal is to give off a vibe of tranquility.”
Medium: Fabric, suede, and thread | Size: 12 x 12" | Value: $850 | Gallery: Hammond Harkins Galleries | doncee.com
Douglas Crawford studied Commercial Design at the University of Dayton and received his B.F.A from The Ohio State University. His work features printer labels and laser printers – a modern medium he describes as “reciprocal interchange between technology and art.” Crawford has exhibited at numerous shows throughout Ohio and has been featured past live and silent Art for Life auctions.
“I work primarily from appropriated images from magazines. The printer allows me the tools to manipulate images I chose. The image is printed onto printer label stock. I slice the images into various shapes and reassemble. Most of my figures are borrowed from the heritage of cultural history, which convey a certain power by way of their statured accoutrements.”
Medium: Printer labels. | Size: 10” x 8” | Value: $850
Anthony Davenport originally trained as an architect, earning his B.A. from Princeton University; and in 1977, he received his M.F.A. from State University of New York at New Paltz in 1977. He continued to work in his own studio, exploring various mediums: including ceramic, cast paper, aluminum, and steel. In the 1980’s, Davenport received three Artist in Residence Grants from the Ohio Arts Council Artists in Education program, and taught art at Ohio University. Anthony Davenport passed away in 2004.
“My training as an architect shaped my aesthetic as a sculptor throughout my career as I worked in multiple mediums. This cast paper relief creates it’s own pictorial space and dimension and invites the viewer to become a part of the architectural environment of the entrance to a temple.”
Medium: cast paper | Size: 22 x 25" | Value: $2000 | Gallery: Hammond Harkins Galleries |
Jamestown, New York, native Betsy DeFusco, received her degree in Art Education from the University of Dayton and obtained her MFA in Painting from The Ohio State University. DeFusco shares that she centers her work “between abstraction and representation, referring to reality in a new and different way.” Her work captivated magazines like New American Painting and Studio Visit Magazines and has been widely exhibited nationally. Her recent shows include The McConnell Arts Center in 2021, The Ohio State University Faculty Club in 2016, and the Hudson D Walker Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 2011.
“This painting, ‘Splash Party’ is part of the ‘Pond Vine Series’ and is inspired by the 2 fishponds gifted to us from the previous owners of the house we live in. It’s been a work in the making since 2010. I enjoy layering the transparent shapes of the fish, finding the rhythm and flow of the water, and including other elements such as lily pads, snakes, and tiny fish.”
Medium: Oil on canvas | Size: 30 x 40" | Value: $2400 | betsydefusco.com
Columbus College of Art and Design graduate, David Denniston, is a painter whose oil paintings are focused primarily on figurative still-life and light techniques. Currently, Denniston is working on a series that explores color and luminosity. These paintings introduce human portraits with themes of anxiety. Denniston has been operating out of a studio at 400 West Rich for the past 10 years and says “painting and creating music is [his] life.”
Medium: Oil on Linen | Size: 18" x 24" | Value: $1200 | daviddennistonart.com
Alex Dodge lives and works in Brooklyn, NY and Tokyo, Japan. His works are included in a number of public collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and The New York Public Library.
Medium: Color Silkscreen on Davey Binders Board | Size: 23 x 33" | Value: $2500 | Gallery: Pizutti Donation |
Susanne Dotson received her MFA in 2019 from the Columbus College of Art and Design, and her BA from the University of Akron, 1974.
She shared that her work is inspired from her troubling time watching her mother spends the last year of her life in dementia: “The title of the painting is derived from the phases and questions she would ask as I, her oldest daughter would deliver breakfast or dinner. She did not know who I was but was so grateful to this nice person who brought her beautiful plates of food.”
Medium: Acrylic on canvas | Size: 30" x 30" | Value: $2200 | Gallery: Sarah Gormley Gallery | IG susannedotsonartist
Larry Doyle is a local from Columbus, Ohio. Inspired by sayings, song lyrics and life’s little moments, his work ranges from paintings and illustrations to ceramics and sculptures.
This piece commemorates the historic “pink triangle” (that was reclaimed by pro-gay advocates in the 70s) andhonors those who lost their lives to AIDS.
Medium: Acrylic, Ink and Pen | Size: 24 x 32" | Value: $500 | lurrzart.com
Painter and printmaker, Sarah Fairchild, currently splits her time between her NYC studio and the Catskills mountains, but her work has deep roots in Ohio. Fairchild commissions original artworks for Ohio restaurants, Brassica, and the set and prop design for Opera Columbus’ production of Lully’s Armide. Fairchild’s work is included in several public and private collections - including the Columbus Museum of Art and the Pizzuti Collection.
“My work straddles the worlds of farming, fashion, and the natural world, while playing with ideas of decoration, beauty and sensuality. My process involves multiple layers on paper, painting highly rendered forms, adding several layers of metallic paint and silk-screened patterns. My work appears very controlled and precise, yet the process is rather fun, messy and exploratory.”
Medium: Acrylic, metallic foils, fabric collage and flocking (velvet) on paper | Size: 30 x 22" | Value: $8000 | Gallery: Hammond Harkins Galleries | sarahfairchild.com
Robert Falcone started creating music and visual art in the mid 1960’s. He drew cartoons for the Cleveland State newspaper, The Cauldron, and worked in the production and design space at Kent State University. Falcone recently completed an MFA in Visual Art at The Columbus College of Art and Design.
“I produce art. The medium is varied and might include paint, photograph, sculpture, music, object, or a combination. I usually work alone, but occasionally in collaboration. My work tells a story. It could be your story.”
Medium: Oil and gold leaf on canvas | Size: 30" x 40" | Value: $850 | Gallery: Lindsay Gallery | robertfalcone.com
Mike Fields is a self-taught portrait artist of 14 years. Fields’ work has garnered international recognition as well as local and national attention and his work has raised money for many charitable organizations. His portraits are black and white (which the occasional pop of color) and feature paintings of iconic athletes, musicians, and classic Hollywood legends.
“My portrait art is done with the subject in mind to tell a story of their life. Stories that need to be told especially those forgotten stories of achievements that can inspire and motivate all of us today!”
Medium: Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas | Size: 24 × 30 × 1" | Value: $5000 | fieldsofartonline.com
Columbus, Ohio local Sam Finkcherishes painting as a passion and a form of therapy. He describes his work to be full of “bold punches of color and contained chaos.” He was featured in the ROY G BIV gallery and he is a member of the Artist Advisory Council.
“Art is subjective, but should always be fun, and those are the kinds of pieces I create. The inspiration for this piece came from two other large pieces I created for a local landmark in Columbus and listening to a lot of Queen in the studio.”
Medium: Mixed media | Size: 60 x 48 x 1.5" | Value: $2200
Born and raised in Marysville, Ohio, full-time artist, Steven Fisher, has explored the multi-faceted creative field as a painter, graphic designer, and creative art director. Fisher has a BFA from BGSU (1993) and an MFA from Academy of Art University (2013).
'VacScene' was painted when the reality of a vaccine was becoming tangible and he opposition to getting vaccinated was getting louder. This whole series of paintings is about finding a sense of hope, of something greater that surrounds us, and gives us a place for refuge, to recharge and find a light in the darkness.
Medium: Acrylic | Size: 16" Diameter | Value: $700 | Gallery: Hayley Gallery | cre8ive-differences.com
James Flowers is a multidisciplinary, art student based in Columbus, OH. Flowers is entering a second year at the Columbus College of Art and Design as a fine arts and business student.
“Forms are constantly evolving into something new and the process is a constant addition and subtraction of materials. Reflective chrome paint constructs the zenith of ‘Cybercibin.’ As a viewer moves around the room, different angles of lighting deceive the viewer into seeing an expanding and contracting motion from the reflective chrome highlights.”
Medium: Oil, Enamel, Grease Marker, Chinese Ink, Graphite, Chrome Automotive Paint | Size: 40 x 58.5" | Value: $2000
Frederick Fochtman is an observational oil painter, art restorer and painting instructor working in Columbus, Ohio. Fochtman started his art career when he was 35 years old and is Fochis a fall and wintertime instructor at The McConnell Arts Center in Worthington, Ohio. “I am interested in working from life observations,” he says; the focus of his work may seem “unremarkable in context” but are life-inspired pieces spanning varied subject matter.
“I focus my process on the measured arrangement of simplified color and shape within a composition. These arrangements are critical and inherent within every subject I choose to paint. The subject matter that I seek out … still contains the essential qualities that are important to me and my process.”
Medium: Oil on linen panel | Size: 5.5 x 21.75" | Value: $1100 | Gallery: Sharon Weiss Gallery | fredfochtman.com
Staci Friedman found her passion in drawing and painting, and loved spending time in her mother’s in-home art studio. In 2006, she relocated to Columbus, OH and spent many years in the corporate world before settling in at the Hayley Gallery.Volunteering with artists with disabilities at local art studios reignited her passion for the fine arts. Inspired by “the beauty and delicate details of flowers,” Friedman considers herself “a mixed media artist with a passion for watercolors, botanicals and abstract art.”
“I work primarily in watercolor because it allows for an interesting blend of spontaneity and control. I appreciate watching the paintings come to life after adding multiple layers to this medium.”
Medium: Watercolor | Size: 20 x 16 " | Value: $550 | Gallery: Hayley Gallery | @stacifriedmanfineart
Linda Gall received her BFA and MFA from Rutgers University. Represented by Hammond Harkins Galleries in Columbus, she has been involved administratively with the Columbus art community since the 1980’s. Simultaneously, her artistic career has included extensive exhibitions throughout the Midwest including many Art For Life auctions.
“A couple of years ago an artist got in touch with me on Instagram. He wondered if there was any chance we could collaborate. His black & white photographs were self-portraits in the nude. At first, I was flattered but ambivalent about working together; but his beautiful and provocative poses stayed with me and I began to feel compelled to draw and paint this man. After finishing a few watercolors, I gave in to my narrative urges and began pairing my naked guy in relationships with gallery goers and museum guards.”
Medium: Watercolor and pen & ink on Canson | Size: 20.5 x 48" | Value: $10,000 | Gallery: Hammond Harkins Galleries
David Gentilini is the Director of The Schumacher Gallery at Capital University. He has worked at the university since 2000 where he has served as the Director, museum registrar, preparator, curator, fundraiser, event coordinator, and artist and community liaison. He is represented by Sharon Weiss Gallery in the Short North Arts District. He explained his “fascination with the play of light and shadows” and finding beauty in life’s daily nuances.
“I am fascinated with the play of light and shadows. I love how it creates a beauty in what many perceive as an ordinary and mundane scene. Painting cityscapes at night provides more energy and opportunity within a limited focus. The light directs you to what it wants you to see. What it wants you to experience. I want to help to convey how a dark and lonely alley becomes almost beautiful and inviting when looking at it through the right lens.”
Medium: Acrylic | Size: 20 x 16" | Value: $650 | Gallery: Sharon Weiss Gallery
Katie Golonka is a Columbus based artist and muralist. Her background includes working as a scenic artist for CATCO, commissioned interior and exterior murals and fine art shows. A self-taught artist, Golonka enjoys working in a variety of styles and media and is always looking for new ways to learn and improve her craft with each new project.
"Brecht said, ‘Art is not a hammer to reflect reality but a hammer to shape it.’ Creating art is a tool to introduce new perspectives and change the world.”
Medium: Oil on Linen | Size: 18 x 24" | Value: $400 | @cherryalleypaint
Lea M. Gray, owner, and creator of PaperBlooms Design LLC, currently resides in Columbus, Ohio. Gray studied Fine Arts with a focus on landscape painting at Columbus College of Art & Design. Soon after, she discovered Origami, a catalyst to explore a more intricate path into creating with paper. Her passion and love for nature spawned a new direction in emulating plants, flowers and trees. She explains that the purpose of her work is to remind us all of the “reverence needed… for what already exists in the world” and to be reminded of the delight there is in experiencing “the tiny wonders” of what is around us.
“My exploration into the realm of botanicals is defined by finding what is so pleasing to me, and what captivates us all. It is the emulation of these findings that drives my work and inspired me to create it.”
Medium: Paper, paint, wire, clay | Size: 30 x 30 x 8" | Value: $3500
Amber Groome is a Columbus-based contemporary self-taught artist who is nationally exhibited. “As an artist,” Groome says, “I invite viewers into meticulously hand-crafted doll tableaus, revealing an intimate look at the inner dimensions of the psyche.”
“My art is for those who connect with their hearts visually, who are not afraid to find beauty in face of flaws and resilience despite darker times.”
Medium: Polymer clay, textile, paint, found object | Size: 8.5 x 8.5 x 2" | Value: $375 | Gallery: Lindsay Gallery | lindsaygallery.com
Dana Grubbe is a central Ohio artist known for her contemporary abstracts. Grubbe started art college at CCAD after retirement from Bell Labs and transferred to The Ohio State University. Education has always been part of Grubbe’s process; she teaches art workshops at 400 West Rich and is a core member of Phoenix Rising Printmaking Cooperative. Grubbe is currently represented by Hayley Gallery in New Albany.
“Painting, to me, is a conversation. I start multiple paintings at the same time, working on them one after another, laying down color, texture, and pattern, scraping away or incising, making marks. Sometimes I work until a specific painting is finished, but I am more likely to work to a point, set the work aside for a few days or longer, and then, engage in conversation again.”
Medium: Oil, wax, marble dust | Size: 18 x 24 x 1.5" | Value: $550 | Gallery: Hayley Galery | DanaGrubbe.com
Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Michael Guinane moved to Columbus in 1996 to attend the Columbus College of Art and Design where he graduated with a BFA in illustration. Michael continued his work in Columbus, working in galleries, at public venues, on commissioned works and teaching courses in painting at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center. He is represented by the Sharon Weiss Gallery in Columbus and the Sharpe Gallery in Maine.
The emotion of a single moment in time is what motivates Michael Guinane to paint. Whether it be a moment in history or the artist's personal experience, a quiet winter night in the park or a busy city street, these works capture the essence of a singular moment.
Medium: Acrylic and watercolor dry brush on panel | Size: 33 x 24” | Value: $4000 | Gallery: Sharon Weiss Gallery | michaelguinane.com
Sol Halabi is an artist who specializes in painting, but has been known to experiment with drawings, sculpture and installation. She combines the techniques of informality and abstraction with classical realism, utilizing both conventional materials (such as oil and graphite) and unconventional materials (such as wax and tar) to achieve her purpose.
The image of a woman in a constant, dreamlike space where reality and fiction are blurred defines Halabi’s work. Her pieces are personal, poetic and speak in a metaphorical language - seeking to provoke thought and discussion through abstraction. Her work’s use of symbolism and romanticism draws on elements of neo-romanticism and portraiture to give viewers an image that distorts reality and speaks of the importance of physical surroundings in how individual people interact with their environment to create memories, dreams and goals - factors that ultimately define the human experience.
Medium: Oil on Canvas | Size: 59 x 31.5'' | Value: $12,500
Paul Hamilton holds a Fine Arts Degree from the Columbus College of Art and Design and is a member of both the Columbus Art League and the American Impressionist Society. For Hamilton, he says “discovering the poetic beauty, power, and grandeur of our landscape in all her moods has become, for me, a lifelong journey.” He has exhibited in Indiana, Maine, Montana, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont and keeps a studio in Granville, Ohio.
“Discovering Great rolling clouds sweeping across hillsides, the soft silence in the receding sun. Harmony. These fleeting aspects of nature -- these effects of motion, light, wind, and water -- fascinate me. In its simplest form, landscape painting becomes a place in time, an immediate impression recorded. Painting had becomea means of recording, translating, and communicating the boundless beauty in the world around us.”
Medium: Oil on canvas | Size: 48 x 48" | Value: $14000 | Gallery: Hammond Harkins Galleries |
Kris Harrison is professional artist with over 19 years of experience in visual communication. A graduate of Columbus College of Art & Design, Kris’s work has been exhibited in group shows including Art For Life, Cox Fine Art Center, and Ohio Art League. Harrison is the co-owner of Orbit Design in the Short North Arts District.
“Driving at just the right time of day, at just the right place, a vista unfolds in front of me so inspiring I wish my eyes were camera shutters to capture the moment that I might use it as inspiration for a painting to keep forever. With‘State Route’ - dramatic evening clouds above an open road captured forever before disappearing a minute later.”
Medium: Photo Painting | Size: 12 x 16 x 2" | Value: $450
Erika b. Hess is a painter recognized for her use and interest in color. Her work has been exhibited nationally including Prince Street Gallery in NYC, Last Projects in Los Angles, CA, and Boston Center for the Arts in Boston, MA. She created the podcast, I Like Your Work and is a co-founder of MUSA Collective, an artist-run collective in Boston. She received her MFA from Boston University.
Erika b Hess (born 1982, lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts) Hess is known for her distinctive use and interest in color. She creates abstract forms and movements with oil that represents figurative and symbolic viewpoints.
Medium: Oil on panel | Size: 30 x 24" | Value: $1500 | Gallery: Contemporary Art Matters | erikabhess.com
Henry Hess started exhibiting his art at the age of 14. He continues to produce art in a variety of mediums from his Chromedge studio in Franklinton. Hess has been in 11 solo exhibitions, including the Lindsay Gallery in 2016. His first solo show was at The Vanderelli Room in January 2015 at age 14.
Despite living his entire life in the new millennium, artist Henry Hess tastes are decidedly 20th century. His art process begins with obsessive watching of movies, such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Wizard of Oz, and Marry Poppins. He watches as scene over and over, studying a set detail or costume. When he sets out to draw, he will create an entire contour of the figure with blue or black ink, and then finish the details within. Hess will then bring the figures to life with color. Evidence of his frenetic need to create, he does not carefully color in the lines and simply trims off these excessive, outside the lines marks. Most figures are completed with a back, as is this piece, finalizing the costume or attire with a perspective change of 180 degrees.
Medium: Paper, Marker, Pen | Size: 34 x 24" | Value: $475 | Gallery: Lindsay Gallery and The Vanderelli Room | henryhessart.com
Derrick Hickman attended the Columbus College of Art and Design earning his BFA in Illustration and later went back to earn his BFA in Art Education from Ohio University. After several years of doing commercial work, Hickman set up his own studio with a focus on residential murals and finishes. Text, advertising jargon and iconic childhood playthings are all elements employed in his work.
Hickman uses images of popular vintage children’s toys to explore memory and our struggle to attach static meaning to symbols of idealized family fun. Whether brand new, used or stolen, these iconic playthings found their way into most of our homesand became reliquaries of childhood hope and trauma. Alongside the familiar images, he places elements of commercial advertising, childlike scribbles and personal writings.
Medium: Acrylic paint, and resin on wood panel | Size: 49 x 48" | Value: $3500 | DerrickHickmanArts.com
Diane Hodges is a registered art and poetry therapist with a master’s degree in Art Education from The Ohio State University. During her 30-year career in art and poetry therapy, she practiced with a diversity of populations: including psychiatric adults and adolescents, chemically dependent individuals, hospice patientsand their loved ones. “I have seen time and time again that we are individual drawn and inspired by those things that touch our heart,” she says. “For me, this has evolved into my love of nature and horses.” Since September 2011, Hodges has been the Executive Director of the Delaware County Cultural Arts Center (The Arts Castle) in Delaware Ohio.
“To create a horse, I find interesting branches or sticks that somehow I see as a horse's back, neck, or shoulder. I tie the branches together using hand-spun wool and use hot glue to assure that the wood is secure. Having ridden my entire life, I embrace the knowledge and feeling I have acquired over the years of the equine form, movement, aura, and beauty in creating my horse sculptures.
Medium: Wood tied with handwoven wool on aged fence board | Size: 14 x 9 x 5" | Value: $300 | stickhorses.net
Andrew Ina holds a BFA in Fine Art from the Columbus College of Art and Design and a MA in Animation from the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, UK. He explains that his most recent work uses the ‘caution’ pattern and signage, “to respond to our current nonsensical social and political climate.”
Ina’s work has been exhibited widely including recent solo exhibitions at Ohio’s Otterbein University; the 934 Gallery in Columbus; as well as group exhibitions at MINT Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Site: Brooklyn Gallery, New York; and The Carnegie in Covington, Kentucky. In 2020, he was a finalist for the Miami University Young Painters Award. His artwork is also publicly displayed in many collections including Otterbein University, Greater Columbus Convention Center, PNC Tower Cincinnati, and the Columbus College of Art and Design.
“I find myself battling the condition of being desensitized to the barrage of (mis)information,” says Ina.“My work stems from this struggle to reconcile the polarizing effects of media and the subsequent groupthink on our day-to-day reality.”
Medium: Mixed media on canvas | Size: 66 x 50" | Value: $3000 | andrewina.com
Morris Jackson is a self-taught artist from Columbus, Ohio. He started drawing as a teenager but didn't begin to exhibit his work until he was thirty. Jackson explains that “this drawing somehow captures my experience of living in the 21st century.”Since 2006, he has exhibited his work at the Lindsay Gallery. He is a two-time recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award.
Medium: Ink and colored pencil on paper | Size: 9 x 12" | Value: $575 | Gallery: Lindsay Gallery | lindsaygallery.com/artists/morris-jackson
Rob Jones graduated from Kent State in 1988 with an art degree and has been teaching elementary art for Olentangy Local Schools since 2006. His work has been shown Columbus and nationally.
“Paul Nash was an English landscape painter, photographer, and writer. He was an official war artist for the British Empire during both world wars. Paul's paintings of the trenches and frontlines resonate today as much as they did one hundred years ago. His story is beautifully captured by Dave McKean in his graphic novel ‘Black Dog, The Dreams of Paul Nash’.”
Medium: Oil on canvas | Size: 24 x 18" | Value: $400 | @whalin_rob_jones
Heather Jones is an accomplished artist based in Southwestern Ohio. Jones studied art history at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning, earning both a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts (ABT). Jones says that “the subject of my work is unequivocally feminist… push[ing] the boundary between fine art and craft,” and has been exhibited widely at national and international venues. Jones’ first book, Quilt Local: Finding Inspiration in the Everyday was released in October 2015 by STC Craft, an imprint of Abrams, New York, and she is a recent inaugural artist in residence at Kehinde Wiley’s Black Rock Senegal.
“My work is steeped in the history of quilt making and a vast group of unknown female makers… The subject of my work is unequivocally feminist; I choose to work with fabric rather than paint, in reference and reverence to the fact that the fiber arts were often the only type of art that a woman was encouraged to practice for many years. Conceptually, my work carries on the tradition of woman as maker.”
Medium: Sewn Cotton | Size: 24 x 24" | Value: $3000 | Gallery: Contemporary Art Matters | heatherjonesstudio.com
Michael Kaiser earned his BFA at the Columbus College of Art and Design. Watercolor and acrylic painting is the focus of his work, and Kaiser served as president of the Central Ohio Watercolor Society in 1996. His paintings have been exhibited in galleries throughout the Midwest: including the Hilton, Upper Arlington Municipality, Ohio State University and Erie PA’s Environmental Agency.
“The Columbus Museum has always been a center of inspiration for me, he says. “Beginning in my early years as a student at CCAD, to the present attending the wonderful exhibitions the Museum brings to Columbus.”
Medium: Acrylic | Size: 48 x 36" | Value: $3000 | Gallery: Sherrie Gallerie
Ann Kete received an economics degree from Denison University and later studied at Cleveland State University where she continued to develop her interest in art. She was the 2019-2020 Artist-in-Residence for the Naples Community Orchestra, and the 2020-2021 Artist-in-Residence for the New Albany Symphony Orchestra. Represented by The Hayley Gallery in New Albany, Kete explains that she is “drawn to nature’s vibrant colors and radiant light.”
“I concentrate on composition and use a loose, painterly approach, which allows the viewer to engage with the painting. In ‘Colors of Columbus’, I chose to approach the subject matter in the evening light to showcase both the vibrant, warm colors of the sunadjacent to the cool colors in the shadows. This dichotomy is ever-present in life.”
Medium: Oil | Size: 10 x 20" | Value: $550 | Gallery: Hayley Gallery | annkete.com
Katie Kikta is a high school visual arts teacher, artist, and realtor. When she's not teaching theyouth, selling houses or making art, she enjoys traveling with her partner, Jamie, and spending time at home wrangling their six animals.
For Kikta, “to create gives [her] the ability to release.” She explains that she draws inspiration from the way “emotions sit in various parts” of the body.
“I draw to process emotions, to work through feelings. I’m influenced by the body, how emotions sit in various parts. How physically we are affected. I’m drawn to the symbology of plants and flowers; life cycles, destruction, creation, death, and rebirth.”
Medium: Acrylic and archival ink on Bristol | Size: 19 x 24" | Value: $575 | Gallery: Lindsay Gallery |
Clifford Prince King is an artist living and working in New York and Los Angeles.
King documents his intimate relationships in traditional, everyday settings that speak on his experiences as a queer black man. In these instances, communion begins to morph into an offering of memory; it is how he honors and celebrates the reality of layered personhood. Within King's images are nods to the beyond. Shared offerings to the past manifest in codes hidden in plain sight, known only to those who sit within a shared place of knowledge.
Public collections holding his work include the Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, Minneapolis Institute of Art and Studio Museum in Harlem.
Mary Klie received a BFA in Fine Arts from Columbus College of Art & Design in 2002, and went on to receive a MFA from The School of Visual Arts in New York, NY. Klie lived and worked in New York until late 2006 before moving back to Columbus to work at The Wexner Center for the Arts.
Klie expands on the purpose of her work to address the “many problems associated with white privilege and white supremacy” in our society. “As I learn more about the depths of racism I realize I have only scratched the surface and that my style of documentation has only just begun,” she explains.
“I created the collage "2020" in direct response to the murder of George Floyd, Ahmaud Aubrey and Breonna Taylor,” explains Klie. “I will never understand what it means to be a person of color in America. I do, however know what it means to be white, and I will continue to expose uncomfortable truths and release anger the best way I know how - by making art and continuing my work as an activist.”
Medium: Cut paper, Gouache | Size: 18 x 24" | Value: $1000
Linda Langhorst is best known for her images of the Ohio State Marching Band and Blues Highway musicians. Langhorst explains that “the relationships between humans and the things that bring them joy” are her favorite subjects; most of her art depicts the community of people gathering.
“A visit to Seattle was delightfully full of color and excitement. The vegetable stand at Pike Place stood out in my mind as a joyful symbol of Abundance - the sites, the smells, the sounds- everything about the place was bright and beautiful and chaotic. It screamed ‘paint me’ and so I did.”
Medium: Oil on canvas | Size: 36 x 48 x 1.5" | Value: $4000 | Gallery: Sharon Weiss Gallery | lindalanghorst.com
Farnoosh Lanjani was born in Tehran, Iran. He studied at Lucknow College of Art and Craft in India before coming to Ohio and receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Columbus College of Art & Design. Farnoosh creates semi-abstract works in oil and mixed media expressing various themes including contemplation, meditation, and love. His work is represented in public collections including commissioned sculptures and murals at Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, and private collections including commissioned portraits.
“Masks have always intrigued me. Covering an individual's face, but leaving the eyes unaltered, open and vulnerable, creates a mystery and ambiguity that I find fascinating. In my paintings, a mask becomes a facade; a shield to hide one's true identity. It represents the physical life and the transiency of a person as opposed to a spiritual, everlasting facet of human life. I like to incorporate gold leaf in the work to show separation between the two entities.”
Medium: Oil and Gold Leaf on Canvas | Size: 36 x 48" | Value: $5000
George Leach is a native of Ohio, born in Youngstown and living in Columbus since 1992. Leach is a self-taught artist painting primarily in oil and represented by the Sharon Weiss Gallery, located in the Short North. Leach has practiced law in Columbus since 2001, and now serves as a Common Pleas Judge in Franklin County Domestic and Juvenile Division.
“As is with many artists, I paint from my life experiences when creating art. When I started this piece, I was well into fatherhood with twin boys and I had a time-consuming law practice. While working late for a client, I heard the song by Harry Chaplin, titled “Cats in The Cradle.” Thus, this painting titled “Little Boy Blue” was inspired by the song, my job, and my young sons who were telling me they wanted to grow up just like me.”
Medium: Oil | Size: 36 x 24" | Value: $2400 | Gallery: Sharon Weiss Gallery
Stacy Leeman’s paintings and drawings have been exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. Her work is held in public and private collections, including Princeton University. Leeman is represented by the Sharon Weiss Gallery in Columbus, OH, Rutledge Street Gallery in Camden, SC, Wheelhouse Art in Louisville, KY and 530 Burns Gallery in Sarasota, FL.
For Leeman, “painting is, like life, elusive. The more you think you understand the less you really do,” she explains. Her style, she says, attempts to emote feelings through a style she refers to “as gestural symbolism.”
“I begin each series in the same manner: Something I’ve stumbled upon, often a text of some sort, that requires teasing out. I work in pairs, painting the surfaces and then adding and sometimes subtracting paint with a rubber squeegee type instrument. It’s a dance. Add, subtract, step back, study.”
Medium: oil | Size: 14" x 11" | Value: $650 | Gallery: Sharon Weiss Gallery | stacyleeman.com
Rich Lillash is a graduate of Columbus College of Art & Design and has a national collector base. He recently participated in the Highlands Nature Sanctuary Artist Residency and was selected to create a large commission for the Downtown Hilton 2.0. “When painting,” Lillash explains,“I try to create vivid paintings that employ distinct brush strokes, active brushwork and saturated color.”
“By leaving flashes of bare canvas or tinted board, I try to create an air of spontaneity and effortlessness in these carefully crafted studies. In my painting 'Cezanne, Cassatt and Peonies,' there is a small floral still-life on my studio stool. The background is a collection of various postcards and clippings I've collected for inspiration and have tacked onto the wall.”
Medium: Oil on panel | Size: 20 X 20" | Value: $2100 | Gallery: Brandt-Roberts Galleries | rlillashpaintings.com
Julie Martin is an architectural designer and fine artist based in Cincinnati, Ohio. In both architecture and art, her carefully crafted environments are complete thoughts or miniature worlds of their own. Viewers are meant to be inspired by a dreamy, atmospheric alternate reality. Easter eggs, subtle hints, and juxtaposed imagery winks and nods to symbolic meanings.
Inspired by the longtime friendship between the artist and her lawyer friend, this piece depicts an abstracted scales of justice and explores the various ways in which we judge and consider the world based on our personal experiences, knowledge, and beliefs.
Medium: Digital Collage | Size: 15.7 x 19.7" | Value: $450 | juliemartin.studio
Corey Mason is an emerging artist from Raleigh, North Carolina, whose expressive linework has been likened to that of Twombly, Matisse, and Picasso. His paintings have recently attracted the notice of important curators in New York, London, and Berlin.
Mason’s confident linework and his halo-like layers of intentional smudges and fingerprints present an insistent tactility and immediacy that recalls the Paleolithic cave paintings of France and Spain. Mason’s motifs, which include pottery, animals, flowers, fruit, and athletes, are both local and global. They suggest the intimacy and comfort of domestic spaces while simultaneously pointing to larger histories of transatlantic trade, migration, and cross-cultural influence.
Medium: Silkscreen Ink on Linen | Size: 23 x 33 " | Value: $3300
Jake Mensinger is an oil painter and muralist living and working in Canton, OH. He received a BFA from Columbus College of Art & Design in 2012. “We are the guinea pigs of the internet age,” he explains. “My work uses dreamlike scenes and icons to explore the pressures, emotions, and experience of having dual citizenship in the cyber world and meat space.” He asks viewers, and fellow artists alike, to consider their role as “curators for the future”: Will we preserve and build upon the ideas and values that have allowed humanity to prosper, or perpetuate the demons that will ultimately lead to our demise?”
“Humanity is shifting and adjusting to find its footing in an increasingly digital world. As more mainstays of life are called into question for their suitability in this new reality, our role as curators for the future has become increasingly apparent.”
Medium: Oil on canvas | Size: 36 x 48 x 1.5" | Value: $3500 | jakemensinger.com
Joey Monsoon is a self-taught painter working in Columbus, OH. His work is concerned with the gravity of our imperfections. Built on narrow structures of flesh and bone, Monsoon's portraits depict the turbulence and resilience of what we keep inside. The bodies ride a thin line between our physical reality and its emotional edges.
This painting is part of a series of large-scale nudes based on the work of photographer, Kate Sweeney.
Medium: Oil on panel | Size: 48 x 36" | Value: $5500 | Gallery: Lindsay Gallery | joeymonsoon.com
Kate Morgan is a multi-award-winning mixed media artist with work displayed from Washington, D.C to Minneapolis, and hanging in domestic and European private collections. Though she works in mixed media now, Morgan earned her B.F.A in commercial photography from Columbus College of Art & Design. Born in Syracuse, NY, she is also versed in printmaking & ceramics.
Morgan says she is “inspired by folklore, mythology & the human form” and wants her work “to be the beginning of a dialogue, not a confrontation.”
“I use figural subjects to evoke a mysterious familiarity and haunting beauty. I build layers of antique and vintage paper collage mixed with my original ink washed drawings to create depth on wooden panels. I save and incorporate historical references through my use of collage; this element creates topical and textural details. Thematically, I incorporate my love of the spirit as well as the strength of the feminine. I address symbolic, cultural, historical and spiritual themes with purposeful vagueness, allowing them to be familiar and curious to a variety of audiences.”
Medium: Gold leaf, collage (architectural drawings), ink, watercolor, colored pencil & graphite on baltic birch in antique gilt frame | Size: 20 x 33" | Value: $2000 | Gallery: Hayley Gallery | katemorganart.com
Kristin Morris is a ceramic/mixed media sculptor based in Columbus, Ohio. She was born in Springfield, Ohio, graduated from The College of Wooster as a studio art major and later studied illustration at Columbus College of Art & Design. A few years later,Morris was awarded a Master of Social Work (MSW) from The Ohio State University and volunteered for several years at an art studio for adults with developmental disabilities.
“I am a sculptor and 3D mixed media artist who works primarily with various types of clay from stoneware (ceramic) to epoxies sculpt. I have a very active imagination which comes through in my sculptures. Sometimes I try to make animals and creatures look like they could be ‘real’ yet unique in that no one has ever seen anything like them before. I enjoy using a lot of detail and texture often accompanied by a lengthy painting process with either acrylics or underglazes (on ceramic pieces).”
Medium: Ceramic, underglaze, glaze | Size: 11.5 x 9 x 10" | Value: $475 | Gallery: Hayley Gallery | klmorrisstudios.com
Nabil Mousa is an advocate for justice, peace, and equality. “I am a Syrian. I am an American. I am an Arab. I am an immigrant. I am a gay man. I am a husband and a son. I am an activist,” he explains. He usesthe many facets of his layered identity to inform his artistic practice:
“I am a voice for those who are silenced and cannot be heard. I am a reminder that humanity still exists in each one of us, and that our voices are more powerful if we are united. As individuals, we are limited, but we hold unlimited power for change if we act collectively. I am a reminder that peace and love is power, while destruction and hate is weakness. We are more alike than we are different. We should embrace each other rather than just tolerate one another. Unconditional love is humanity’s only hope for enlightenment, it is our only hope for survival.”
Medium: Mixed media on Paper | Size: 26.5 x 40" | Value: $6000 | nabilmousa.com
Jim Murrin is a painter and Ohio native. He studied photography, drawing and design in college before pursuing a career in dentistry. In the early 1990's he circled back to art enrolling at Columbus College of Art & Design to study painting. His paintings have been exhibited at the Century Association in New York City; ConnectArt in Cuba; and in museums and galleries across Ohio including the Columbus Museum of Art, Springfield Museum of Art, OSU Urban Art Space, OSU Faculty Club, the Georgian Museum, and Sharon Weiss Gallery.
“Equally drawn to the urban and rural landscape, my paintings emphasize saturated color and contrast of light and shadow. My paintbox has grown from oil-only to include acrylic paint, wax soluble crayon, pencil and epoxy. Painting for me is meditation, an effort to understand myself and my world. I see painting as a method of getting closer and closer to the essence.”
Medium: Acrylic on panel | Size: 45 x 28" | Value: $2800 | Gallery: Sharon Weiss Gallery | jimmurrinart.com
Andrea Myers, born in Kettering, OH, explores the space between two and three dimensionality, hybridizing painting, sculpture, and fiber arts. She received her BFA in print media and her MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Hyde, and the Columbus Museum of Art among many others.
“Within my artistic practice, I explore the space between two- dimensionality and three- dimensionality, hybridizing painting, printmaking, sculpture and textiles. I am engaged in the physical and material processes of constructing pieces and my work is driven by contrasts in materiality, form and scale. In my ongoing textile works, I create machine sewn fabric collages from a wide range of fabrics, exploring and manipulating ideas of quilting, applique and tactile formations, patch worked and growing across the surfaces of walls.”
Medium: Machine sewn hand dyed fabric, acrylic paintF | Size: 36 x 33" | Value: $1950 | Gallery: Hammond Harkins Galleries | andreamyersartist.com
Ardine Nelson is a professor at The Ohio State University and holds BS in art education a MA in sculpture and photography, and MFA in Photography. Nationally and internationally exhibited, Nelson has received John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in Photography, Ohio Arts Council and Greater Columbus Arts Council Individual Artist’s Fellowships, was a GCAC visiting artist in Spain in the early ‘90s, and has visited Slovakia to teach alternative camera workshops.
“My long-term interest in landscape, urban landscape, land usage, regeneration and man’s effect on the land continues to influence my visual ideas. Certain flowers last only a day (or night) before beginning to age and die. This process of discovering the visual beauty of the aging flowers applies to all stages we humans pass through as we age. Counter to the normal expectation of “beautiful color”, these faded, muted tones instead direct the viewer to consider the life cycle emphasizing the notion of all life cycles in our world.
Medium: Pigmented Inkjet Print | Size: 30 x 24" | Value: $850 | ardinenelson.com
Alison Nocera was born in Colorado and currently resides in Columbus, Ohio. After attending college at Kent State University and time spent in Denver and Chicago, she found herself settling in Ohio. Nocera has always loved movies and pop culture and is explains that “nostalgia is a powerful tool” she uses within her pieces to evoke bittersweet emotions. An extra gifted VHS copy of the '87 classic, Overboard, sparked an idea to recreate the cover in glitz to elevate the nostalgic item. What started as just using glitter and glass micro-beads has continued to grow to larger pieces using sequins and micro details with matte and metallic paints.
“The graphics that adorned items from the past, VHS movies and Records, all hold special magic. I enjoy finding ways to elevate these bits of nostalgia through meticulous and zen-like patience, recreating familiar images with glitter and sequins. I hope these pieces present you with the feeling you get when someone says the first words of a quote, or lyrics to a song, that you can easily complete. Sparkly tributes to our everyday existence, now and in the past.”
Medium: Sequins on wood | Size: 13 X 13" | Value: $350
Nicholas Nocera is an illustrator/screen printer living in Columbus Ohio. He a co-founder of Alison Rose, a small screen printing/design studio. Nocera began his career screen printing t-shirts for family and friends, as well as designing gig posters for his friend’s bands around town. This has led him to work with a wide range of musicians and clients. A staple in the art community for the past 15 years, his studio specializes in high quality hand-printed apparel, wallets, posters, and other goods.
“My current work celebrates the places and environments that we tend to overlook daily. I'm interested in treasuring the ordinary, slowing time down to highlight the places that have a story and a past.”
Medium: Giclee print w/ pencil | Size: 12 x 12" | Value: $300
A.J. Oishi is a self-taught painter specializing in abstract pointillism. Originally from Seattle, Oishi spent her professional career working in roles that required organization and precise analysis. These skills transferred into her painting career, where measured and controlled techniques are applied to create balanced and detail-oriented paintings.
Rooted in an exploration of inner reflection and personal growth, Oishi’s work is created using paint on the eraser side of a #2 pencil in a deliberate, pointillist approach. By adding thousands of dots together and using specific color combinations, a meditative experience is presented to the viewer.
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas | Size: 30 x 30" | Value: $2400 | Gallery: Simon Breitbard Fine Arts | ajoishi.com
Ryan Orewiler is a Columbus College of Art & Design alumni who studied illustration and grew up in the South side of Columbus. Orewiler has exhibited internationally and specializes in paintings, sculptures, murals, art installations in various bodies of work. His art is inspired by the urban environment, modern art, world history, environmentalism, society, mental health, holistic health, mythology and from his personal experiences throughout life. In 1994, Orewiler shattered his fifth vertebrae - in three pieces - in an accident. After his surgery, he committed his life to become an artist to help and inspire others.
The title also reflects the nuances of his personal traumas in life as an artist and human. The woman in the fetus position honors motherhood – those who are the symbol of life and makers of unconditional love: his loving Mother and women who led him, Gaia (Mother Earth), the Roman goddess Venus, women who continue to lead and inspire men and children - and she also represents "Sophia" - the daughter he lost.
Medium: Mixed media on museum stretched Canvas | Size: 60 x 36 x 2" | Value: $4500 | orewiler.art
Jeff Ostrowski is a mixed media artist specializing in works that juxtapose ancient art with contemporary themes. “There is a sense of magic and ritual that connects these …unrelated things,” he explains. He is passionate about mythology and spirituality and loves epic stories: from Hercules to Star Wars. He lives and works near Columbus, Ohio, and has taught art in the area for nearly 20 years.
“My work juxtaposes images from art history and mythology with graffiti. With my art, I hope to create a visual experience of the mystical or surreal that resonates deep within our human consciousness. The title refers to the Buddhist idea of “monkey mind”; that our minds are always restless.”
Medium: Acrylic, marker | Size: 18 x 24 x .75" | Value: $485 | Ostrowskiart.weebly.com
To Inspire and Liberate the Human Spirit Through the Arts Passion Works Studio is a collaborative community arts center located in Athens, Ohio at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. At the heart and soul of Passion Works is a core group of working artists with developmental differences. This collective creates aesthetically and conceptually powerful works of art. More important than what is produced is how the collaborative practice encourages connection, purpose and belonging for the individual artists and the community at large. Passion Works Studio's piece 'Ciervo Azul' will be featured in the Silent Auction at Art for Life on October 23. Learn more at artforlifecolumbus.com. Medium: Acrylic on Cavnas | Size: 60 x 48" | Value: $1500 | Gallery: Passion Works Studio | passion-works-studio.myshopify.com
Chris Pemberton is an abstract painter from Columbus, Ohio. Rooted in formalism, his work is an exploration of color and form. Skewed frames of reference and layers are used to create an atmospheric, compelling image designed to elicit an emotional response in the viewer. Pemberton was a student at The Ohio State University fine arts program. His work has been exhibited at numerous venues: The Riffe Gallery, Carnegie Gallery, Shot Tower Gallery and The Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition. Chris also donates his talent and work to events that benefit the Columbus art community, such as Urban Scrawl and the CMA "An Evening With Art" auction.
“My paintings are an exploration of color and composition. I tend to start with a minimal palette and allow it to expand as the painting progresses. I do not use studies or sketches for my paintings but rather allow them to develop based on images that exist only in my mind. Oil, acrylic, stain, charcoal and pencil are but a few of the mediums found in my paintings. Any materials that contribute to my goal of a visually striking image are considered.”
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Medium: Acrylic and pencil on canvas | Size: 40" x 60" x 2" | Value: $2000 | Gallery: Hayley Gallery | cpembertonart.com
Mary Jane Quick, began her art journey four years ago after attending the Winterfair in Columbus, Ohio and viewing the encaustic art. She expands on the impact of the fair: “I was so deeply drawn to it… I knew I had to learn how to create encaustic art.” Many months later, Quick began taking encaustic classes at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center. Currently, she is enrolled in Painting with Fire, a year-long encaustic class taught by 25 encaustic artists from around the world.
“As a lesbian feminist, I am driven by emotion, politics, nature, and the female experience. From this viewpoint, I hope my creations reflect the complexities of being female and the beauty we all call life, even when we fail. Also, knowing nothing about the foundations of art, color, composition, I am still learning!”
Medium: Encaustic, collage, monoprint, and found metal | Size: 24 x 6" | Value: $250
Ben Quinn is an artist living and working in Los Angeles, CA. He received a BFA from Columbus College of Art & Design, and MFA from California College of the Arts in 2016. Recent solo exhibitions include Fused Space in San Francisco, Littman Gallery at Portland State University, and Pt.2 in Oakland. Quinn has also collaborated with Acne Studios in the 2020, and in 2021, released a series of painted garments, bags, and an installation in their Hollywood Los Angeles location.
This piece is one of 3 works utilized by Acne Studios in the Women’s Spring Summer 2021 collection -- which focused on themes of light, ritual, and freedom. The painting was reproduced onto a handful of garments including dresses, skirts, and tops. The Starworm is essentially the combination of the energy of a star and a wormhole. Starworm has no beginning and no end, creating an endlessly morphing tunnel of points.
Medium: Watercolor and UV Varnish on Canvas, Fluorescent Light Fixtures Wired to Plug, Enamel on Light Bulbs | Size: 84 x 72" | Value: $14000 | Gallery: No Place Gallery | benquinn.info
Daniel Rona is a 23-year-old, self-taught artist from Columbus, Ohio with interest in multiple art mediums – though the artist primary focuses on painting and drawing. Rona’s work is narrative, “bouncing between narration of personal battles and big ideas - to adventures beyond my reality and exploring my creative train of thought,” they explained.
“Every piece is a process of building and taking away, finding my composition as I actively paint forms, symbols, and body parts from subconscious.”
Medium: Latex, Oil Pastel, Spray Paint | Size: 30 x 40 x 2" | Value: $1500 | Gallery: Sarah Gormley Gallery | Danielrona.com
Karen Rumora received her degree in Industrial Design from The Ohio State University. Specializing in landscape oil and encaustic paintings, the professional artist and designer, explains that she “continues to explore the natural world utilizing encaustic techniques.” She co-founded the design consulting company RumoraStudios with her husband Matt in 2012. She is represented by Art Access Gallery in Bexley, Ohio.
“Anchored to my roots in plein air painting, I employ an introspective approach by which I create fictional vistas. Colors intermingle to spawn an environment of undulating violets, pinks, acidic yellows, layered spaces, and light. I am consumed with morphing forms, and visions that are animated and lean toward the surreal. I imagine these recent landscapes as a prelude to a dream -- the space teetering between reality and wonder.”
Medium: Encaustic | Size: 24 x 24" | Value: $1300 | Gallery: Art Access | karenrumora.com
Nikos Fyodor Rutkowski lives and works in Columbus, Ohio has been a leader in the Columbus arts community. Rutkowski was a founding member of the Franklinton Arts District and the original organizer of Urban Scrawl. Rutkowski is an alumnus of the Columbus College of Art and Design. He continues to gain attention with his works in local exhibitions including our Inaugural Exhibition and Art For Life (2016 & 2018).
In this recent series of work, Rutkowski collages paper patterns for clothing as formal elements in his acrylic paintings. His most recent body of work focuses on a triad of themes from the covid-19 influenced still life to science –fiction. What were abstract works have in these turbulent times taken on representational compositions.
Medium: Acrylic with found sewing patterns collaged on panel | Size: 24 x 34" | Value: $3000 | Gallery: Contemporary Art Matters
Slobodien studied art and design at Ohio Wesleyan University and Columbus College of Art & Design. He placed first at the "Art at the Arnold" at the Arnold Sports Festival competition in 2012, and earned 4 Top 5s in subsequent years. He was showcased in the Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Show (Professional Division) in 2016, 2017, 2019, and a two-person show at Java Central (Westerville, Ohio) in 2019. He is a Member of the Ohio Art League and the ROY G BIV Gallery.
“Sketching the human form within strict time limits - no more than 15 or 30 minutes - tends to result in spontaneous expressions and simpler shapes that still capture the model's pose and, at times, the persona and mood.”
Medium: Charcoal | Size: 23 x 18" | Value: $250 | columbusmakesart.com/artist/560-don-slobodien
Gabriel Gaffney Smith is a modern-day renaissance man with an artistic resumé spanning multiple mediums. As an accomplished fine artist, Smith’s intricate wood carvings have been showcased in museums, private collections, and galleries across the country. Smith began his career as professional ballet dancerand has since become an award-winning choreographer. Smith has also composed musical scores for professional ballet companies across the United States, as well as an Emmy Award-winning film.
Taylor Woodhouse of the City Scene Magazine analyzed the artist and his work: “He has found himself preoccupied with circles and the flow of movement and energy they create. His approach to both musical composition and craftsmanship is consistent – start with one idea and go from there. Each layer he adds, whether it’s in a new song or a new carving, builds upon the previous ones without much concern for what lies ahead. For him, it’s all about the feeling and movement in that moment.”
Medium: Poplar wood, paint | Size: 32 x 21" | Value: $1900 | GabrielGaffneySmith.com
Mark Spurgeon is an interdisciplinary artist working in Columbus, Ohio. His work encompasses nearly 30 years as a visual artist and performing musician. Throughout his parallel creative practices, Spurgeon explores themes concerning the global climate crisis, social justice, and the transitory nature of our existence. His vibrantly colored paintings center abstracted forms and naturalistic, often symbolic imagery. Intrepid overpainting and pentimento exemplify this work, and reveal harmonic explorations, grace notes, and blink-and-you-missed- it representations -- hinting at a melody, or the shared rhythm of an improvised passage of music. His work has been recognized in The New York Times Magazine, SPIN, and No Depression.
Medium: Acrylic on paper | Size: 24 x 30" | Value: $300 | MarkspurgeonART.com
Kate Sweeny is a self-taught, female, queer photographer born and raised in the Columbus, Ohio.She fell in love with photography as a child while looking through family photos and how these images shaped my sense of identity. In her work, she explores themes of memory, identity, and freedom and is fascinated by the transformative power of memories. “Making images with other women is the most transformative thing in my life -- to see our bodies as art made autonomously and authentically, instead of being displayed as sexual objects to be owned and desired,” she explains.
“I aim to make honest, vulnerable portraits that reflect a shared vulnerability between myself and the subject and what we discover together in the moment. And in exploring places of uncertainty and trust, I can capture spirit, atmosphere, feeling, and emotion.”v
Medium: Photograph | Size: 20 x 30" | Value: $400 | katesweeneyphotography.com
As a child, a miscreant, Jimbo Tamoro, was taken in and trained by a champion artist, who went so far as to adopt Tamoro into his family after the premature death of his own son. Decades later,Tamoro is a skilled artist himself, and a monkey trainer in the U.S. Military. Upon the death of his surrogate father and sensei, he is informed of a mysterious, no-holds barred, highly illegal arts tournament in Columbus, OH known only as the kumite. At the bidding of his sensei and against direct orders from his military superiors Jimbo travels to Columbus, OH to participate and uphold his master’s honor. To succeed not only will he have to win the tournament; he must also evade capture by two military police sent to arrest him and the prying questions of a nosy reporter eager for a story.
“My more recent work explores the possibilities of lines. It is an extensive study into not only creating the hard edges of an outline, but breaking down planes of light, smoothly rendering values, and even building color with a ceaseless swarm of elaborate scribbles.”
Medium: Bic pen on paper | Size: 20 x 16" | Value: $1000
Brett J. Taylor is an artist and art educator from South Florida. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing from the University of Florida and is currently pursuing his Master of Studio Art in Printmaking from The Ohio State University. Taylor’s artistic practice is an embodied transdisciplinary investigation into the continuous re/de/construction of the body and employs bothqueer and crip theory lenses.
“I employ Queerness to negate the binaries and engage instead with the spectrum of possibilities both in between and outside of hetero-centric constructs. In relationship with Crip Theory, the denial of the binary of able-bodied and disabled to include a spectrum of ability, acknowledges that we are in a state of becoming. Queer and Crip thinking challenges static definitions of who we are and who we could be, it informs how I engage with the body and space, allowing for ambiguity, failure and the unexpected. The figure is too definite, bothphysically and contextually.”
Medium: Lithographic Collage | Size: 15 x 19" | Value: $950 | bretttaylorprints.com
Melodie Thompson is an oil painter who has become known for her emotive portraits and moody cityscapes. Thompson combines traditional elements of the old masters with contemporary tools to achieve her evocative style. The limited palette and technique she employs gives her work an atmospheric quality. Her work is shown in galleries and juried shows across Ohio, Indiana, and North Carolina.
“Approaching each portrait as a sculptor with every mark of the paintbrush carving the narrative of a memory. Archetypical images link the past with the present along with a limited moody palette. The marred gray tones in the flesh portray a strength through weakness (or humanity) that connects beyond race, gender or position.”
Medium: Oil on cradled maple | Size: 20 x 16 x 1.5" | Value: $1450 | Gallery: Sarah Gormley Gallery | jtoriginals.net
Kendric Tonn earned his B.A. in English at Sewanee: The University of the South; studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia; and continued studies at the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. The human experience has always been at the center of Tonn’s work, reflecting enduring human concerns, themes and stories central to the most universal of all subjects, the human figure. Tonn is a highly representational oil painter, working mainly with the nude figure.
“My work--primarily paintings in oils--is founded in the slow contemplation of models and objects in the studio. Over the many hours it takes to produce a painting, I strive to create a compelling, but non-photographic, representation of a scene. I seek the light effects and sense of form of the old masters, and to put them down on canvas in a painterly manner, in a way that speaks to universal human experiencesand conditions.”
Medium: Oil on canvas | Size: 30 X 40" | Value: $8200 | Gallery: Brandt-Roberts Galleries | kendrictonn.com
Alicia Jean Vanderelli was born in Los Angeles California and was raised in Panama City, Florida. After graduating high school in 1993, Vanderelli left the small beach community in search of one that provided the comforts found in a small town and the diversity of a city. In 2003, she settled in Columbus Ohio. Vanderelli obtained a Bachelors of Fine Arts with a concentration in oil painting in 2008 from the Columbus College of Art and Design, graduating Magna Cum Laude.
In 2014, Vanderelli began converting the church at 218 McDowell Street into an alternative gallery space for local visual and performing artists and a personal studio space to create her own work. The Vanderelli Room, located within the Franklinton Arts District, is a multipurpose space used for networking with professional artists, housing a variety of art shows and performances, rental for private parties and events, and as an environment conducive to facilitate a holistic art educational and developmental experience for teen and adult artists with and without developmental disabilities.
Medium: Oil on panel | Size: 13 x 13” | Value: $500
Michael Samuel Lucifer Vandorpe studied painting at the KASK in Ghent. In his early work, the fascination for linear visual language is already dominant. Gradually, the painting work evolved into an exploration of pure matter, an investigation into what the essence of oil paint is on canvas for the painter. Harmony of the raw paint with the transparency of the light is central. Color and light form a combination that results in a poetic whole and the central theme of nature remains explicitly present in the artist's paintings to this day. His recent work describes a mixture of figurative, linear elements with the pure matter of the world around them as the main source of inspiration. Vandorpe positions themselves as a quirky, contemporary, and odd (landscape) painter.
Medium: Oil paint | Size: 7.5" x 10" & 9.5" x 12" | Value: $300 | Gallery: ROYGBIV Gallery | roygbiv.gallery.org
Barbara Vogel's images are based in alternative photographic processes. She received her BFA and MFA from the Ohio State University. This year she had a solo show at the Zanesville Museum of Art and a group exhibition at the Mansfield Art Center with Cavanaugh, Sanchez, and Wong. In 2019, Vogel exhibited with Cuban and Central Ohio artists in Mantanzas, Cuba, and her work was shown in a national group show at the von Liebig Art Center in Naples, Florida. Vogel is a member of Spring Street Studios andis represented by Sherrie Gallerie.
“My ‘clickless’ photographs are created with a hand-held wand scanner, an instrument designed to be used on flat materials such as books,” says Vogel. “The soft focus of these scanned botanicals emotes the essence of the historical or antique, the veils of light bathe each subject, and a serenity elevates the subject beyond the commonplace. I cover these images with fused encaustic and cold wax to add to their other-worldly, unattainable quality.”
Medium: Wand scanned photo, mounted on wood fused with encaustic | Size: 36 x 24 x 1” | Value: $1200 | Gallery: Sherrie Gallerie | barbvogel.net
Aimee Wissman is a self-taught visual artist living in Columbus, OH. She currently works as an arts administrator and runs a collective of -- currently and formerly -- incarcerated artists. Notably, her work has been featured in MoMA PS1 and by the Smithsonian Institute of Folk and Cultural Heritage.
Michael J. Halliday is a Columbus native and integral part of the thriving arts scene in Franklinton. He studied under notable painters and innovators, built his own approach to abstract painting, and continues to stay engaged in a studio practice that supports authentic, meaningful aging.
Their work is careful and obsessive, full of surface tension and material interaction, and process driven. Wissman and Halliday’s collaborations are evocative of Wissman’s need to make chaotic representations of her trauma and Halliday’s choice to powerfully obliterate, soften, and restrain it. The painters have learned to share space, mimic each other's styles, and to settle on a finishing point that feels like a release, a celebration, and a quiet understanding they describe as: "what is old can indeed be made new again."
Medium: Acrylic, ink, chalk, marker | Size: 48 x 48 x 1.5" | Value: $1800
Vogley Woods received her BFA in Painting from Kansas City Art institute and MFA in Printmaking from Ohio State University.Vogley Woods is a cross-disciplinary artist focusing on notions of painting with works on canvas, sculpture and performative video.Most recently she was one of 3 artists featured at the Columbus Museum of Art. Recent residencies include International Artist Residency at MASS MoCA and the GCAC Dresden residency exchange. She has taught at various institutions including Columbus College of Art &Design, Denison University, Kenyon College and The Ohio State University.
“I have a long-standing interest in the folding landscape of time and how history is written and cemented while at the same time erased and denied. This new work examines how messages must be communicated in secret and in code, through the abyss created by this erasure and the conflict that the erasure manifests both internally and externally.I use dichotomous forms to attempt to bridge the divide of what is pulled or split in two directions– such dualistic structures as arches; both bent and straight, materials that appear real yet are fake, gendered and ambiguous figurative forms at rest or in tension.”
Medium: Acrylic on panel | Size: 23 x 48" | Value: $2500 | Gallery: Hammond Harkins Galleries | melissavogleywoods.com
Mac Worthington is internationally recognized and locally renowned, who has long attracted a select and international circle of collectors. Each piece reflects his desire for a unique style of expressionism and contemporary consciousness. His commanding presence in the art world has gained him unyielding exposure. His unique sculptures and paintings have pushed the envelope into a new league of contemporary radical abstract art. Mac commands a global presence. His work spans the United States, as well as Canada, England, France, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Japan, Denmark, Cyprus, Hawaii, Germany and Buenos Aires. His award-winning gallery is in downtown Columbus, Ohio and his sculpture park is located at his private estate nestled in rural Delaware County.
“I let impulse drive my work through the process. The end interpretation is always left to the viewer.”
Medium: Acrylic on stretched canvas | Size: 36 x 57 x2.5" | Value: $975 | macworthington.com
Austin Young is from Reno, Nevada and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. The foundation of his career started at Parsons in Paris, France. Early in his career, Young transferred his interests from traditional portrait painting towards a long-celebrated career in portrait photography. Based on a nuanced visual language of pop-culture iconography, his trademark style and techniques have captured a broad palette of musicians, artists and celebrities including Debbie Harry, Leigh Bowery and Margaret Cho. Young obscures personality and identity issues in confrontational and unapologetic image making about those who often split gender roles, stereotypical constraints, and socially constructed identities.
“I have always been attracted to powerful images of religious icons. I am interested in the non-verbal communication of imagery. I want to create images that are outside of definition. I’m interested in people. I’m interested in what’s outside of gender. I want to create an experience of beauty that jolts - and does not soothe. I've been taking portraits of drag queens and trans people since the late 1980's when I lived in New York City. My artwork is always a collaboration with the people who show up and I consider my portraits to be an intimate experience - for me, the subject and the viewer.”
Medium: Inkjet print on Matte paper | Size: 30 x 22" | Value: $5000 | austinyoung.com