Backscatter: Light Studies and Everyday Alchemy at OVERLAP

Backscatter gallery view

Sparkling surfaces abound in Backscatter, OVERLAP’s quietly radiant summer show of works by Funlola Coker, Katherine Mitchell DiRico, Jesse Kaminsky, Joetta Maue, Leah Piepgras, and Esther Solondz, curated by Alicia Renadette. On a clear summer midmorning, sunshine falls across shimmering layers of glass, crystal, gold leaf, copper, bronze, salt, acrylic, and clear liquid. Materials catch and refract light. The overall effect is of a hushed brilliance that draws you in, inviting a closer look.

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Feeling the Onslaught of the Moment at Field of Play

Lauren Clark, Four Points Round, oil, acrylic, cotton mesh, copper, glass beads, iron, malachite, 40 x 20 inches

The exhibition at Field of Play gallery titled Onslaught of the Moment was wonderful, intriguing and timely all in one. The gallery’s exhibitions are always deeply considered and engaging, even within a smaller space, the works all shine and carry with them quite the presence. The shows are always curated with care, and this exhibition was no exception. Curated by Kate Sherman, the works of Lauren Clark, Masie Love, and Brian Karlsson each traverse space and show a progression of both time and experience through each artist’s process.

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Gizmos and Gadgets: The Meticulous Craft of Kathleen Studebaker

Kathleen Studebaker: Gizmos & Gadgets, at Patricia M. Nugent Gallery at Rosemont College, @rosemontcollege is on view through: Mar 30, 2025

AstroObject [2f.x1] Copper, Bronze, Brass, Steel, Aluminum, Walnut 7.25” x 8.5” x 9” 2023, photograph courtesy of the artist

Gazing upon Kathleen Studebaker’s solo show at Rosemont College, one is immediately reminded of an inventor’s workshop. Puzzle-like constructions of gleaming rods, intricate gears, and nested circles radiate from central points in the sculptures, reminiscent of gyroscopes and astrolabes from a bygone era. Each sculpture is situated on a regal walnut base and many are suspended in the air by elegant arching armatures. They possess an old-world charm, but the pristine copper, bronze, brass, steel, and aluminum components suggest the vibrancy of active use.

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The Philosophy of Physical Existence at Tutu Gallery

A room with a fireplace and a rug

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Installation view of Gentle Mist group exhibition at the Tutu Gallery, Photo Credit: Yulin Gu and Yuhan Shen

The exhibition titled Gentle Mist at the Tutu Gallery in Brooklyn could be mistaken for primarily being idea-driven, in which case the ideas precede artwork production, along the lines of artists working with clarity of vision, such as the Conceptual artist Sol Lewitt and the Minimalist artists Tony Smith and Robert Morris. However, upon closer examination of the works by this group of New York and Baltimore artists, we realize that the makers of the art objects are more intuitively engaged with their art. There is a great deal of trial and error and improvisation in the creative process, and the ideation and production processes integrate up into a complex maneuver or dance.

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Emily Culver: The Idea of a Thing

In Dialogue

Portrait, photo courtesy of the artist

Virginia-based artist Emily Culver’s background is as multifaceted as her artwork. With a father who is a carpenter and contractor and a mother who transitioned from being a midwife to a nursing professor, she was raised in a world that merged craft and body. This upbringing influenced her own creative direction. Adept at procedural tasks, she nonetheless felt a pull towards a less constrained form of expression. College introduced her to painting, but she soon sought more than just surfaces, finding herself intrigued by the interplay of gravity, physics, and mechanics.

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Artists on Coping: Lori Horowitz

During the Coronavirus pandemic, Art Spiel is reaching out to artists to learn how they are coping.

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Exodus, 2020, mixed-media (fabric, torched copper, aluminum and brass, fiber and photography). Michael David & Co., Bushwick. Photo courtesy of the artist

Using eclectic techniques and materials, Lori Horowitz explores the overlooked interactions between individuals, exploring their social disconnect as well as common humanity. Since 2015, she has had six solo exhibitions and participated in numerous national gallery and museum group shows. She is also an independent curator, as well as the former curator and executive director of Studio 5404 Art Space in Massapequa, NY. Currently, she serves on the board of directors and advisory boards for two not- for- profit arts groups. Recently, her work has been featured in the NY Times, as well as local and international publications such as 1340 Art International, Azucar and Apero Magazines, in Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris.

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Artists on Coping: Daniel John Gadd

During the coronavirus pandemic, Art Spiel is reaching out to artists to learn how they are coping.

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Daniel John Gadd, Assembling an Octopus, 2019,111 x 100 x 12 in. – oil, wood, copper, rope, mirrored glass, steel, epoxy resin and marble on wooden supports

Daniel John Gadd is an artist living and working in New Jersey. His work blurs the boundaries of painting and sculpture, abstraction and figuration, and “high” and “low” art. His work is fragile, violent, aggressive, and sensitive all at once, reflecting (literally, with his use of mirrors in much of his work), and sharing our complexity with an acceptance of all of what we are, and in the end, what makes us human. His most recent exhibition Animal was on display at M. David & Co. last fall.

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Artists on Coping: Christina Massey

During the Coronavirus pandemic, Art Spiel is reaching out to artists to learn how they are coping.


Christina Massey, Crafty Collusion 4, Acrylic and enamel paint on canvas, paper, fabric, repurposed aluminum and wire, 82” H x 68” W x 13” D, image courtesy of the Artist

Christina Massey’s work is somewhere between that of painting and sculpture, craft and fine art, process based and conceptual. She has exhibited extensively in the NY Metropolitan region having completed over a dozen solo shows. Her work has awarded her an FST StudioProject Fund Grant, Brooklyn Arts Fund Grant, SIP Fellowship at the EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, Puffin Foundation Grant and Mayer Foundation Grant. Massey’s work is in the collections of the Janent Turner Museum, Art Bank Collection in DC, Credit Suisse and multiple private collections. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

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Rosa Valado: The Feeling of a Space

Rosa Valado, Time, detail, mixed media on paper, 8′ x 16′, 2017 , photo courtesy of Rosa Valado

The Spanish born NYC based artist Rosa Valado has prompted in her immersive installations multi-layered sensory experiences, utilizing diverse approaches, from the smell of burning wax and music to architectural elements and engineering problem solving. Throughout her body of work which includes besides installation, drawings and paintings, she has been exploring notions of space and time by engaging with ideas on architecture and light. Rosa Valado shares with Art Spiel some of her formative art experiences, her process, ideas, and projects.

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Così via at Centotto

Opened Dec 16

All photos by Sharilyn Neidhardt

Len Bellinger at Centotto

On a rainy December night with little else to recommend it, I made my way to residential gallery Centotto to find it warm, lively, and packed with many of the luminaries of the cozy East Williamsburg scene. Although the weather was so cold and unpleasant that there were scant Christmas shoppers on the L train, artists and art lovers were packed snugly into Centotto for the opening reception of the latest exhibition, “Così via” (Italian for ‘so forth’).

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