Online Exhibition: Carlota Rodriguez + Elena Rossi, selected by Samantha Bittman

About the exhibition For this exhibition, I decided to focus on a selection of paintings and fiber-based artworks by Carlota Rodriguez and Elena Rossi. In each artist’s work, I was immediately compelled by their use of vibrant color, pattern, and materiality, as well as their loose approach to geometric composition, which strikes me as playfully balanced between symmetry and asymmetry, pattern and disarrangement. About the selector Samantha Bittman is an artist and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work exists between painting, weaving, and installation, and within it she explores ideas around pattern, perception, and abstraction. She received her B.F.A. Read More …

At NIAD: My Rising Special Place, Curated by Mary Mortimer and Dorrie Reid on view through January 29 //

This is the the seventh show in our new exhibition space NIAD Windows. NIAD Windows is four white walls in the front window bays of the Art Center. The shows can easily be seen from the sidewalk or from a passing automobile. From Dorrie Reid:“I’ve been thinking about when I retire. I’ve been thinking about my long-term goals, finding a place to settle down and work on my art. Somewhere I can have quiet time, and no hostility. I’m thinking about finding a place that’s quiet, and moving on to what I want to do in the future. Searching for Read More …

Online Exhibition: SPEED, Selected by Patrick Reed

View the show. About the exhibition Pedal to the Metal Our music is fast.           Our food is fast.                      Our sports are fast.                              Our bite is faster.                                     Night shift, night rider, Catch us if you can                                    (you can’t) kiss kiss            meow About the selector Patrick J. Reed is an artist and art writer. He is a regular contributor to art-agenda and a staff writer for THE SEEN, where he is the author of “Sonic Avenues,” a monthly column that explores sound as it arises in, emanates from, and occurs around art. His criticism is also featured in Read More …

Exciting News: Billy White at Adams and Ollman January 9-February 6, 2021 //

⁣Adams and Ollman is pleased to present a solo exhibition of paintings by Billy White (b. 1962, lives in Hercules, California, and works in Richmond, California). Marking the artist’s first solo exhibition on the West Coast, the show will feature a selection of his expressive portraits made between 2016 and 2019. The exhibition is open by appointment only. ⁣⁣With graphic marks and emphatic colors, White conjures portraits that are celebratory and personal. Muscular and energetic brushstrokes coalesce to form complex images that are more emotional than representational. White’s subjects include his family and himself, as well as iconic figures from Read More …

Online Exhibition: Road to Nowhere, Selected by Eric Shiner

View the show. About the exhibition One of my favorite songs is “Road to Nowhere” by the band Talking Heads. As our nation is currently on a strange road to an ever darker place, I try to remain optimistic knowing that many good people are fighting against the ills of society to put us on a brighter path to an equitable and just future. Artists, like those working at NIAD, are helping to lead the charge, and the works that I selected all reference roads that I hope lead us to a safe space. Art, in kind, should always take Read More …

Marlon Mullen’s First Monograph Now Available//

Designed by Eric Wrenn Office New York 128 pages / 52 color plates Marlon Mullen has had solo exhibitions at Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA (2015) and White Columns, New York, NY (2012). His work has been included in group exhibitions such as the 2019 SECA Art Award exhibition, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA (2019); Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2019); Way Bay 2, U.C. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), Berkeley, CA (2018); Affinity, Museum of Northern California Art, Chico, CA (2017); Under Another Name, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (2014–15); and Create, BAMPFA (2011). Mullen Read More …

Interesting Reading: ‘What Day Are You Picking Me Up for Christmas?’//

From the New York Times: The coronavirus pandemic has upended the lives of many American families. Monica Duffey, 61, looks forward to the day before Christmas Eve. That is the day, every year, that one of her brothers picks her up from the group home in Waukesha, Wis., where she lives with seven other women who have developmental disabilities. Rituals are important to Monica, an avid consumer of Penny Press crossword puzzle books and a lifelong fan of the R&B group Brenda & the Tabulations. Since her parents passed away, Christmas has meant celebrating with her eight siblings, Joe, Maureen, Read More …

Online Exhibition: Favorite Recycled Nature, Selected By Jean McElvane//

View it. About the exhibition My art is my children. I make what I like and share it with the world. With projects I make in detail, I look at what’s in front of me. Anything I’ve made in the past has been improved over the years through studies. Whenever I make something, I always keep an exact few samples for myself. Sometimes I wear them for display, like a human tree, and/or have them displayed where I work. I also keep samples of a work-in-progress in progressive steps from start to finish. Hoping to have answers for questions posed Read More …

Online Exhibition: Faces In The Crowd, selected By Elizabeth Lalley

View the show. About the exhibition In her essay “Joy,” Zadie Smith divulges that a source of her daily pleasure in life is, very simply, “other people’s faces.” Beyond the surface of appearance, Smith alludes to the private lives, anxieties, triumphs, and toils she imagines in others—strangers she passes on the street or sits beside on the bus, for instance. Her projections are fictions, but they are a continual exercise in empathy, imagination, and compassion nonetheless.   I think of Smith’s essay often, passing days in the anonymity and excitement that life lived among others, in public space, can shape. Read More …

The Latest From NIAD//

What do the winter holidays mean to you this year? At NIAD, this is the time when we look back at the year’s accomplishments and learnings, recognize the hard work of staff, appreciate our supporters and donors, and prepare for the year ahead. While sheltering in place has in some ways felt like a held breath, in fact we have continued to grow this year in ways we previously thought impossible. We’re emerging from a year of reinvention and activism, with hard-won tools for staying connected across distance, and continuing work for change through greater equity. As a community, we Read More …

Online Exhibition: NIAD’s Holiday Gift Guide #2//

Welcome back for the second edition of our Holiday Gift Guide. This latest version features loads more gift ideas for you including a few terrific paintings and drawings (perfect for any wall). Another highlight of the guide is an inspirational pen + ink mantra from Serena Scott (you might want to keep this for yourself.) Also along are Alan Perez’s charming ceramic movie monsters (this one is a tribute to Jaws and perfect for the cinephile on your list) as well as Samantha Kershnar’s delightful ceramic restagings (this one is a Christmas celebration.) For your sports fan you’ll find Michael Read More …

An Update From NIAD//

This year, NIAD is more thankful than ever for you, our community of support.  Amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic, you stepped forward to ensure that NIAD grew in its resilience and capacity.  As a result, NIAD is stronger now than a year ago, preparing to expand artist resources in the coming year.  The Virtual Studio will continue; we know NIAD artists will return to 23rd Street in Richmond; and we’ll develop a wider range of community-based programs to connect them. Working in three places, NIAD will serve more artists and reach more of our community – with you.  As Read More …

Online Exhibition: NIAD’s Holiday Gift Guide #1//

About the exhibition Sometimes when giving a gift, you want the form to fit the function. Sometimes when giving a gift you want practical and beautiful over just, well, beautiful. And sometimes when giving a gift, you want something so funky and so unique, you know you didn’t already give it to the recipient last year. With the first edition of our Holiday Gift Guide, we’ve got you covered. In this guide we have some truly amazing jewelry from Maria Radilla and Esme Silva. We have a really lively vessel (don’t often read that combination of words, do you?) from Read More …

Online Exhibition: Lost In Translations*, Selected By Matthieu Morin//

Getting lost is our greatest freedom. Take a path without knowing the end or the stones. Plunge into cold or boiling water, is it really water? Freedom is wandering. The steamer descends the blue slopes of Big Colorado under coal explosions. Helmeted armies take their strength in the yellow eye and the red sun of the Moscow river. The hills fall like cakes out of the oven yes ja! yes ja! shouts the red child. *These texts were intentionally google-translated to be lost. View the exhibition. (image: Untitled (D0324), Matthieu Morin)