Homiens Fall 2024
Maayan Sophia Weisstub, Mnḗmē, 2021, Kinetic sculpture: Silicon, wood, metal, 33.5″ x 53.5″ x 63.8″ (850 mm x 1360 mm x 1620 mm).
Katarina Bishop
Peace 2024
Medium format film photography
10” x 10″ (254 mm x 254 mm)
Artist’s Statement: Beauty can be found at any time, not just on a bright day or during a summer month. While the weather is cold, attractions are closed, and emptiness abounds, moments of beauty are offered. On this journey through Armenia and Georgia, I aim to share these moments of splendor found in the roadside spots, empty paths, and scenes of daily life present during the off-season.
Katarina Bishop is a Serbian/American photographer currently based in Boston, MA. Her work explores the interactions of humans and the environment, conservation, and sense of place. Growing up with a foot in two distinct cultures, she has always been fascinated by the ways in which our identity is shaped by our surroundings and experiences. Additionally, she is also interested in how we each bring our own view and perspective to the world around us; we all see and experience places in different ways. She holds a BFA in Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Her work has been featured in F-Stop Magazine, exhibited domestically and internationally in galleries such as Black Box Gallery in Portland, OR, Hopkins Center for the Arts in Hopkins, MN, and Boomer Gallery in London, England.
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Joseph Crago
Twisted Sister 2024
Pencil and charcoal
12” x 17” (305 mm x 432 mm)
Artist’s Statement: My sister’s face reimagined.
Joseph Crago is a fifteen year old portrait artist from Pittsburgh, PA.
Anastasia Komar
EDEN III 2024
Acrylic and electroplated polymer on board
51″ x 63″ x 8.5″ (1295 mm x 1600 mm x 216 mm)
Artist’s Statement: My research into the intersection of art and contemporary bioengineering informs my practice. I seek to elucidate aspects of our reality that increasingly affect the human experience but elude comprehension. Referencing science, theology, and history, I combine acrylic painting executed in a wide gamut of short, vivid, and luminescent brushstrokes with 3D printed polymer sculptures that echo forms at once biomolecular, mythological, and mammalian.
I studied architecture and environmental design at the Moscow Institute of Architecture, a school rooted in the Russian constructivist movement, where I explored traditional arts alongside my architectural studies. I think architecture’s logic and main structural principles originate from nature. My current practice combines cutting-edge science with history and theology, examining transformative dynamics in organic, cybernetic, and inorganic realms through technological interventions. My interest in molecular biology comes from my absolute ignorance and amazement of how complex biology is and how far humanity pushes the boundaries, trying to replicate and modify nature. In my work, I reference these relationships through an acrylic painting executed in short, vivid, and luminescent brushstrokes with 3D-printed polymer sculptures that echo forms at once biomolecular, mythological, and mammalian. Opaque and forgiving substrates rather than unyielding representational planes, the paintings host hybrid, quasi-corporeal sculptures that protrude from the edges and envelop the surface, suggesting a parasitic or symbiotic relationship.
Arthur Petrillo
The mother’s comfort and pride 2024
Digital photography
7.9″ x 11.8″ (200 mm x 300 mm)
Artist’s Statement: The orthodox church lights, the sun of Kefalonia, and the love around the place were translated into this gorgeous image, in which the mother comforts her child. At the same time, she shows immense pride in her son in a timeless moment, one of those when we stop to recognize how warm life can be.
Arthur Petrillo is a Photographer, Art Director, and Designer. They are a nonbinary identity and, over the last 12 years, have developed their perspective on everyday photography. After a series of mental health crisis episodes and going through their gender journey, Arthur Petrillo found in photography a place of mindfulness, where they can focus on the present and cope with the challenges of being a trans person. Arthur is inspired to tell stories of diversity, loneliness, and overcoming, finding beauty and uniqueness in what they see. As passionate fan of Leica, they constantly carry cameras as a relief from the hurdles of modern life.
Maayan Sophia Weisstub
Mnḗmē 2021
Kinetic sculpture: Silicon, wood, metal
33.5″ x 53.5″ x 63.8″ (850 mm x 1360 mm x 1620 mm)
Artist’s Statement: Mnḗmē is a kinetic sculpture comprised of a desk, a chair, a book and a glass of milk. While the scene seems commonplace, closer examination reveals that each object is subtly breathing in different rhythms.
In our quest to understand and emotionally survive the incomprehensible reality of the world, we utilize all that is available to us, and project memories, sensations and feelings on inanimate objects. These objects become living monuments to our attempt at coping with the recognition of our temporary existence and the inevitability of loss and death. The past exists outside the realm and beyond the reach of our perception, but some material objects may become the continuation that we crave. This work aims to preserve the present and relive the past while dealing with the deep emotions that are connected to grief and loss. Ultimately, it seeks to breathe life into the lifeless objects, ensuring our eternity.
Maayan Sophia Weisstub is a multidisciplinary artist based in the United Kingdom. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, Maayan’s work has been exhibited in renowned museums and galleries internationally, including Christie’s, Saatchi Gallery, Omer Tiroche Gallery, Museum of the Home in London, and Pavlov’s Dog Gallery in Berlin. Maayan has been recognized as a shortlisted finalist for the Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award and the John Ruskin Art Award. Her work has garnered attention in prominent publications such as WhiteHot Magazine, Kaltblut Magazine, Hyperallergic Magazine, White Paper By Magazine, and many more.
Rachel Weiswasser
Paris, Texas #1 2024
Oil pastel and crepe paper on linen
39″ x 64″ (991 mm x 1626 mm)
Artist’s Statement: Paris, Texas #1 uses the color pink to highlight the subject’s femininity and vulnerability, while the pink’s tone emphasizes the artificiality and inauthentic portrayal of her existence. The hue, as observed through the male gaze, creates a disconnect from her authentic self.
As the first piece in the series, it invites viewers to question Jane’s unfinished nature, portrayed with less depth and substance than the objects around her, drawing them into a space of speculation and transforming their perceptions of visual language.
Rachel Weiswasser is a New York City and Montclair-based pointillist painter known for her intricate and vibrant works. She has received numerous awards, including the CaPA scholarship from Lafayette College and the Merit Scholarship grant from the Art Students League of New York. Her work has been exhibited in group shows at prominent galleries in New York’s Lower East Side and Chelsea, and her paintings are part of permanent collections in California and England.
Despite being self-taught, Weiswasser holds a BA in Art History from New York University and an MA from University College London. She has actively contributed to the art community, volunteering at the Montclair Art Museum and assisting in teaching at the Art Students League of New York. Currently, she works full-time at a labor law firm in Manhattan while continuing to pursue her passion for painting.
Juan Butten
Joe 136 NY 2020
Acrylic, waste, plastic
10.5″ x 2.5″ x 9.2″ (267 mm x 64 mm x 234 mm)
Artist’s Statement: The facade is inspired by the early graffiti writers of New York City, with a special tribute to the Dominican artist Joe 136, who was one of the most influential figures in graffiti culture during the 1960s. At the center is JOE-136, who might have been the first king of Broadway Local during 1970-71. He has rarely received the credit for being one of the pioneers who helped start the movement.
Juan Butten is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York, blending his diverse skills in visual arts, including drawing, sculpture, printmaking, and painting. In his home country, the Dominican Republic, he gained recognition for his sculptural installations made from solid waste and his abstract paintings. His art straddles the line between sculptural installations and contemporary abstract painting. With recent works such as La Balsa, Butten has transcended borders by exhibiting in various countries. Born in 1975 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Butten studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Santo Domingo and took classes with the late master Julián Amado. Since 1999, he has worked as a draftsman in various advertising agencies and graphic studios, including Alphagraphics. In 2007, he held his first solo exhibition, Transgresión Morfológica, at the Instituto Dominico-Americano in Santo Domingo, and a year later, in 2008, he presented CATARSIS at UNESCO in Santo Domingo. During the 1990s in Santo Domingo, Butten used the pseudonym FASEUNO in the graffiti scene, a name he also used for his 2023 exhibition. His graffiti experience has allowed him to create urban atmospheres in his work, adding greater realism to his art. At the end of 2023, Butten presented his exhibition FASEUNO at the Centro Cultural in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. This exhibition, primarily composed of marine solid waste from Dominican beaches, invited reflection on the plastic crisis on the island and its future impact. The exhibition addressed the urgent concern that, according to warnings from organizations, by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in our oceans. Butten has also received high praise for his acrylic paintings from various art critics in his country. Since 2024, Butten has been living and working in Brooklyn, New York, where he continues to create both his paintings and pieces made from solid waste.
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Kane Calì
Fake Break 2024
Composite white marble
8.7″ x 21.7″ x 11″ (220 mm x 550 mm x 280 mm)
Artist’s Statement: The work of Kane Calì positions us at the crossroads between several forces and realities — the natural and man-made; the whole and the fragment; the hopeful and the dystopian; our collective past and an unknown future; intention and chance; the digital and the tactile; the pursuit of beauty and the onset of disaster.
Kane Calì was born in Malta in 1983. An experimentalist with an acute fascination with the malleability of data, Calì has explored various media, most notably ceramics, glass and 3D printing. While allowing his tools to identify and capture content within both the landscape of the virtual and that of the real, his artistic practice mirrors humanity’s desire for advancement, while remaining firmly grounded in tangible, everyday surroundings. His artistic development reflects a personal interest in critical theory and contemporary political discourse.
With a studio based in Malta, Calì has presented work that is two and three dimensional, with a growing interest in public art. He completed an MA in Ceramics and Glass from the Royal College of Art and has since exhibited locally and in major international cities including Milan, London, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Shanghai.
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Jack Dunnett
Jan’s Do 2022
Oil and encaustic on board
7.1″ x 5.1″ (180 mm x 130 mm)
Jack Dunnett is an artist from Caithness, Scotland. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Painting from Gray’s School of Art in 2017. He currently lives and works in Glasgow.
Effie Ferguson
unCOVERED 2023
Oil on canvas
42″ x 30″ (1067 mm x 762 mm)
Artist’s Statement: I believe that painting is not just a whole, but rather a collection of many parts. I focus on paying close attention to detail and strive to deeply understand the underlying structure that holds the body of work together. I aim to intensify every part of the painting, which, in turn, demands more attention from the viewer, striving for a kind of integrity of attention that focuses on the absolute care of formal deconstruction of technique and the viewers’ ability to understand my technique and visual literacy.
I have chosen all compositions to paint based on the connection I feel within them. The unity bringing my work together does not rely on themes of subject matter but rather a common feeling that festers when surrounded.
I am constrained by a compulsive nature to be perfect in my art and in life, with an overwhelming fear of making mistakes, and an intense need for things to be “perfect” or “done right” with a constant hyper-awareness of every mistake that can be made. My fear of failure pushes me to my breaking point, where I produce my best work. I can only compete against myself, constantly reaching for new heights, pushing my artistic abilities and senses every time a new work starts and another is finished.
My perfectionism leads me to rigorously refine and obsess over details, even if they go unnoticed. When focusing on details, I become very intimate with my work, to the point where the rest of the painting becomes obscured from my vision. Many of these details go unnoticed but come together to form a greater movement. They remain there, hoping to hold some sort of importance and weight, to carry the piece mark by mark.
Effie Ferguson is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where they are studying studio art with a concentration in painting. Originally from Ontario, Canada, Effie relocated to pursue their passion for creating art. They have participated in numerous exhibitions at the university alongside fellow instructors and peers. Their work encompasses three-dimensional structures within flat oil paintings, drawing inspiration from realism and personal narrative.
Effie has been featured in multiple university publications. Additionally, they have received the prestigious Stout University Foundation Exhibition Award and have worked as a media assistant to promote the school’s various studio art programs to the public.
When Effie isn’t painting, they are also an accomplished gymnast, being a Canadian Eastern National Champion, 2x All-American, All-Conference, and WIAC champion on the balance beam, as well as an All-Conference on the uneven bars, and received the 2024 CSC Academic All-District while representing the University of Wisconsin-Stout in the NCAA.
Nate Harris
TV MAN 2024
Mahogany, acrylic, brass
11″ x 13.5″ (279 mm x 343 mm)
Artist’s Statement: The works in this series were inspired by the lyrics of the 1982 song Go Bang! by Dinosaur L. “I wanna see all my friends at once”. I found the lyric to conjure a sense of play, but also a nostalgic longing. The pieces were heavily influenced by the friends, both literal and metaphorical that have joined me in my life so far. I love the idea of friends (or enemies for that matter) manifesting as ideas, or emotions, like the Devil and Angel which every now and then try to illuminate themselves. A pool party, picking flowers in the outfield of a baseball game, a dinner party, or a city street at night. Much of the work has been an exercise in play and the demonstration of various processes developed over the past few years, along with a few new experimentations in materials such as Lime paint and LED lighting.
Nate Harris, (b. 1991 in Laurel Springs, New Jersey, USA), is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in New York City. Nate’s work has been shown at venues such as The Delaware Contemporary, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Space 1026 (Philadelphia, USA), and KOP Gallery (Antwerp, Belgium). His permanent installations can be seen at the Philadelphia International Airport, Canopy Hotel (Philadelphia, USA) and Bibliotheek Permeke (Antwerp, Belgium), among others. He has participated in art residencies including The Jaunt Residency (2022) and AGA Labs (Printmaking, 2019) in Amsterdam. Nate’s commissioned work for clients like Penguin Books (UK), Warby Parker, Target, and Adobe demonstrate his ability to scale his work to meet client needs. In 2023, Nate launched NORA, a project through which he extends his practice to offer custom wooden name puzzles that blur the lines between sculptural and functional art.
Roger Mujica
Nostalgia Sunset 2018
Digital photography
Artist’s Statement: Nostalgia Sunset captures the serene beauty of twilight as the sun dips below the horizon, casting a warm, golden glow over the tranquil landscape with small flowers. The image evokes a sense of longing and reminiscence, with soft hues of orange, blues, and dark cyan blending seamlessly into the sky. Gentle waves reflecting the last light of day, while the front silhouettes of trees give a small touch of melancholy. This photograph invites viewers to pause, reflect, and lose themselves in memories of days gone by, wrapped in the comforting embrace of a perfect sunset.
I’m a passionate and awarded international photographer that is fueled by nature’s intricate shapes, vibrant colors, and dynamic light that plays within. I aim to transcend traditional imagery to offer profound storytelling and perception transformation, embedding depth and insight into the tapestry of life with my work.
Originally trained in two disciplines namely that of architecture and interior design, to experience this ancient craft for over a decade as I retrained my technical skill set with the advent of digital technology photographing across various genres of architecture, landscape, travel, portrait, editorial, product, and fine art photography.
Photography to me is not just an art but a matter of stitching inside my soul. It helped me realize that the visual language of photography has outstanding power to bring out messages, educate people, and in some way influence even the residents of the whole world, transcending the barriers of spoken language.
Shani Nizan
Dachshund 2023
From Dogs of New York series
Pen and watercolor on paper
14″ x 17″ (356 mm x 432 mm)
Artist’s Statement: In a search for a subject that could simply bring joy and positivity, I began by sketching dogs that later on were printed on postcards that I gifted to dog owners on the streets of the city. What started as a small gesture of kindness grew into a larger art project, where I explored the diversity of dog breeds and the heartwarming reactions of their owners across different neighborhoods. The drawing process itself unfolded organically, in coffee shops and parks, adding an element of spontaneity and connection to each piece.
“Dachshund” is a whimsical portrayal of a dachshund with simple strokes and warm tones, capturing the charming personality of this small but mighty dog.
In today’s world, I feel there’s a lot of emphasis on finding identity, searching for meaning, and constantly interpreting things—there’s an overwhelming tendency to overthink. I believe there’s a depth that comes from simplicity and practical action, without the forced search for layers and meanings. I see the process of finding identity as one of peeling away, rather than layering on, and that it comes through doing the things that bring joy and goodness to myself and those around me. Pleasantness, in its most fundamental sense.
Through my art, I want to cut through the noise. I aim to distract people from their distractions and bring them back to a place of simplicity, lightness, and joy. I don’t want my viewers to overthink; I wish for them to smile. My work is an invitation to step away from the weight of modern life and experience the beauty of small moments—those moments that can seem “shallow” in their simplicity but are actually deeply nourishing.
Kevin Nzumbi Mutemi
bikes in Barcelona Ciutat Vella (2) 2024
Caran D’Ache pastel pencils on Sennelier blue toned pastel paper
9.6″ x 13.5″ (243 mm x 343 mm)
Artist’s Statement: A pastel drawing developed from a pen-and-ink sketch done in situ on the first week of me declaring to myself that I’m an artist. While visiting a friend in Barcelona, I got the opportunity to see how free souls express themselves at the Ciutat Vella plaza. Somehow, the bikes in some corner kept me company when all else seemed chaotic.
Kevin Nzumbi Mutemi is a Kenyan-Australian self-taught pastel artist, born in 1993 in Nairobi, Kenya. Now based in Heidelberg, Germany, Kevin’s work is a vivid exploration of color, capturing the quiet, intimate moments of life through the lens of expressionism and fauvism. His journey to becoming an artist is as unique as his work—after earning a Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Queensland, Australia, and completing a PhD in Evolutionary Genomics with EMBL-Universität Heidelberg, Kevin chose to follow his true passion: art. His scientific background informs his methodical and experimental approach to drawing, and adds to a deep appreciation for the natural world.
Driven by a desire to celebrate lives often overlooked, Kevin is currently engaged in a project titled The Lives of TREC, a collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), to portray the lives of field scientists and staff involved in the Traversing European Coastlines (TREC) project. In addition to this, Kevin is working on two personal projects, Anonymous and Unknown Family, which delve into themes of identity and the unseen narratives of everyday people.
Jason Shih
Summer Flower ⋅ Autumn Leave 2023
Cast bronze, polished
15” x 12.6” x 33.9” (380 mm x 320 mm x 860 mm)
Artist’s Statement: The work interprets Rabindranath Tagore’s chant in Stray Birds: “Let life be beautiful like summer flowers and death like autumn leaves.” Every life has its own texture, sometimes beautiful and glorious, sometimes reserved and silent. Under the reflection of time and space, the inner desire to soften and harmonize is combined into a meaningful appearance with the washing of light. Life becomes a long poem, and people wander in their own magnificent mood.
Jason Shih was born in 1972 in Taiwan. In 1991, he began to specialize in metal sculpture when he was a sophomore in the Fine Arts Dept. of Taipei National University of the Arts. In 2001, he graduated from School for American Crafts, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA, and majored in Metal Sculpture. And then, he served as the metal sculptor Albert Paley’s assistant, involved in crafts and public art work practices. Furthermore, he earned his Art PhD from China Academy of Art, China (2015). Now, he lives in Taiwan, and consistently engages in the both areas of sculpture and public art.
Jason Shih’s artistic vision is shaped by a diverse array of influences, from contemporary dance to avant-garde fashion. He cites German choreographer Pina Bausch and British designer Alexander McQueen as significant inspirations. Bausch’s explorations of time and space resonate with Shih’s interest in sculpture’s capacity to embody kinetic energy and spatial imagination. McQueen’s innovative approach to contemporary imagery and themes provides Shih with a broad canvas for creative expression.