Internationally known for her work as a landscape photographer, Tanja Hollander shifted her focus in 2011 to embark on a new venture of photographing all of her Facebook friends. “Facebook seemed an ideal forum for this exploration. Though we are in the initial stages of understanding the effects of social networking on American culture and photography, there is a pervasive feeling that it is changing our interactions with each other and building a false sense of community,” Hollander explains. Hollander’s Facebook rolodex will send her to 100+ cities, 43 states and will send her to 11 countries and 4 continents to see 600+ friends. By reaching past the profile page, Hollander peers into the everyday environment of her Facebook friends to discover a portrait dictated by physical friendship and home, rather than a virtual persona. While traveling for the portrait project, Hollander discovered and documented different landscapes, thus revisiting a familiar subject and developing a new layer of meaning.

> Click here for the press release

Curated by artist, Robert Attanasio, Critical Condition features text-based works by Robert Gilf, Bob Seng, Adam Taye, and Robert Attanasio. The show will continue on the lower lever from June 6th until July 13th.

> Click here for the press release

Jim Kempner Fine Art presents, “Orchids, Orgies and Marbles,” the first solo exhibition for photographer Christopher Beane. Curated by gallery director Dru Arstark, the show includes a number of large-scale color photographs from his Orgy, Camouflage and new Ribbons series, along with unique “marble” paintings.

> Click here for the press release

Jim Kempner Fine Art announces an exhibition of Jay Kelly’s recent drawings and sculpture, his ninth solo show at the gallery.

Continuing his exploration of making objects, Kelly, a self-taught, former photorealist painter of industrial landscapes, brings his attention to detail and love of weathered, aged surfaces to his intricately constructed sculpture. Kelly’s abstract wire sculptures are delicate constructions in space and have a light, playful quality. Others, made with silver nickel, wood, and gesso are aged with patina and are more compact in appearance, only reaching up to 8 inches in height. Kelly has expanded beyond his traditional miniature format to include sculptural works as large as 2 feet high. Regardless of scale, Kelly’s handcrafted precision is evident in all his work.

> Click here for the press release

Known for rendering decadent and pristinely organized desserts, Wayne Thiebaud is a seminal artist in post-war American art, lying at the vanguard of Pop Art and modern realism. The exhibit is intended as a small-scale retrospective of Wayne Thiebaud’s prints, showcasing his trademark subject - American food- along with his images of San Francisco’s urban landscapes. Thiebaud was thoroughly interested in the beauty of print media, and the elements of chance, surprise, and continuity that existed in the practice. This exhibition showcases the editioned and hand-colored trial proofs that came out of his well-crafted investigations into various print practices. Print media was used as a platform for Thiebaud to explore the possibilities of transfiguration, and the idea that a work of art is never truly complete. In printmaking, a trial proof or artist proof allows the artist to explore different compositional decisions and color palette (known as a color trial proof). Thiebaud described this process by saying “It is the potential for change that captivates me. Trial proofs offer a chance to experiment with variations and permutations that can be transmitted to the next stage.” Applying a layer of watercolor or pastel over a print encourages a direct freshness and gives new life to the images. Thiebaud relishes the ability to rework an image and the struggle to find the point at which an image is truly resolved.

> Click here for the press release