The Apex is Nothing

Bruce Pearson makes distinctive and hypnotic works that push the limits of painting. Constructed on Styrofoam panels, his paintings are fields of sensuous color and intricately creviced surfaces, with visceral impact and optical effects. His seamlessly constructed, intricately layered images are unique investigations in which text is the basis of image and image reverberates with meaning. Pearson has been exhibiting professionally for over 35 years, and his work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He was awarded a Skowhegan Residency in 2001 and has lectured and critiqued at many institutions, including the School of Visual Arts and Parsons School of Design. He currently lives and works in New York.

Working from a heterogeneous array of cultural traditions, Chris Martin (b. 1954, Washington, D.C.) makes paintings that serve as living documents of the eternal present. Chris Martin has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions worldwide, and his paintings are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Museum of Contemporary Art Denver; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among other museums. Paintings, a career-spanning monograph, was published by Skira in 2017. Martin lives and works in Brooklyn and the Catskills, New York.

John J. O’Connor was born in Westfield, MA and attended Pratt Institute. He received a 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship and has participated in residencies such as MacDowell and Skowhegan. He will be artist-in-residence at the Cold Spring Harbor Science Laboratory this year. O’Connor’s work is in public collections such as MoMA, the Whitney, the Hood Museum, and the Weatherspoon. He co-chairs Visual Arts at Sarah Lawrence College and is a member of the experimental art and technology collective NonCoreProjector.

Ken Weathersby is a contemporary visual artist known for his innovative approach to abstract painting. Born in Mississippi, he received his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Weathersby’s works are characterized by their intricate structures and the incorporation of unconventional materials. His art often features canvases with elements removed or rearranged, creating a unique interplay of depth and surface, and allowing a collision of images, texts, and real space with abstraction. Weathersby has had solo exhibitions at Minus Space and Pierogi Gallery in New York, and in various galleries and institutions across the United States earning notable awards and fellowships.

Amanda Millet-Sorsa is an artist, arts writer and arts worker based in New York. She has exhibited at Below Grand gallery, The Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Bookstore, SHIM Art Network, The Socrates Sculpture Park, and elsewhere. She has received support and grants through the Materials for the Arts and NYC Cultural Affairs, among others. She holds an M.F.A from the New York Studio School and B.A. from Brandeis University and has been a resident artist at Proyecto Ace in Buenos Aires, Argentina and at ArtLeadHER in partnership with The Monira Foundation at Mana Contemporary, Jersey City. As a contributor to the Brooklyn Rail a member of AICA (International Association of Art Critics), and a curator at Below Grand, she participates actively in the NY arts community.