Contemporary Arts Matters is delighted to announce its upcoming exhibition, Flora and Fauna, a celebration of nature's beauty and diversity including work by: Heimir Björgúlfsson, Sarah Fairchild, Pamela Fraser, Erika Hess, Daina Higgins, Nikos Fyodor Rutkowski, Billy Sullivan and Devon Tsuno. Each of these artists offer their unique perspective on the natural world while highlighting themes of culture, history, spirituality, politics and environmental sustainability. Through vibrant paintings and mixed media pieces, these artists bring diverse techniques and styles to their interpretations of flora and fauna, showcasing the splendor, distinctness, and interdependence of elements within our natural world. In this metaphor of an interconnected ecosystem, “Flora and Fauna” depicts the multifaceted nature of our existence as human beings, with focus on how different elements—be it personal experiences, cultural practices, spiritual beliefs, or political dynamics influence each other in a rich, evolving tapestry. The exhibition will be on view from September 26- November 14, 2024 with an opening reception on Thursday, September 26 from 5-7pm.

Heimir Björgúlfsson is represented with a pair of paintings that explore mankind’s clashes with nature, however subtle or absurd, and how our visions and experiences of the natural versus the man-made are shaped by our cultural identities and personal characteristics. In his paintings, Heimir juxtaposes imagery to invoke the fragility of wild animals. His goal is for the viewer to leave his work with more questions than answers about their cultures, practice and impact on the world at large.

Heimir Björgúlfsson lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He received his MFA from the Sandberg Institute in 2003; and his BFA from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 2001, both in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In 1998 he graduated from the Sonology program at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands. His work has been exhibited widely in Europe and the United States in solo and group exhibitions. In 2012 he was nominated for the Carnegie Art Award in Stockholm, Sweden, and in 2006 he was nominated for De Volkskrant Visual Art Prize in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Björgúlfsso’s work is included in museum collections including the 21c Museum, Louisville, KY, ,Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,TX, Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH, Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland and the Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland. Recent group exhibitions include Leucadia Oolong Gallery, Encinitas, CA in 2024 and in 2023, Kaleidoscope: Icelandic 21st Century Art Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland, Spring Salon Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM and The Long Echo Sunbeam Studios, Los Angeles, CA. In 2022 Heimir had a solo exhibition, Birds of Kings, Moremen Gallery, Louisville, KY and in 2024, This will solve everything, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.

Sarah Fairchild’s paintings bring an intense study of the artist’s natural surroundings into her work, imbuing it with an artificial brightness, fashioned through a complex layering process. Beginning with taking pictures in rural Upstate New York, she captures the common and often ignored vegetation, weeds and wild plants. The images are transferred onto paper, imbuing them with an otherworldly glow by using vibrant hues and decorative surface treatments like flocking. These pieces deliver on what she has become known for, obsessive and visually alluring work that play within the themes of organic beauty and sensuality.

Fairchild is a mixed media artist living in Jersey City, NJ and working in Long Island City, NY. She received her BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, OH. Her work has been exhibited in exhibitions at Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH, Keyes Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY, and Hammond Harkins Gallery, Columbus, OH. Special projects include her mixed media presentation, Floribunda, at the One Pierrepont Plaza, Brooklyn, NY, and the vinyl installation, Cruciferous, at the Grace Building Lobby in New York City, NY. Her works are in numerous collections including: The State Palace of the Hubei Province, China, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH, and Brassica Restaurants, Columbus, OH. In 2021, Sarah received the Community Arts Partnership Purchase Award from the Greater Columbus Arts Council. In 2023 Fairchild had a solo exhibition Anima Mundi at Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH.

Pamela Fraser's new botanical paintings are lyrical and reflect the artist’s deep understanding of color and form. These works are part of an on-going series inspired by mid-century textile designs, including the work of Josef Frank, an Austrian architect and artist who co-founded the Vienna School. His Modernist style included floral designs for wallpaper and carpets, which have greatly impacted the design world internationally. What Frasier brings to her floral designs is a sense of movement through restrained pairings of color. They are vibrant animations of joy and pleasure.

Pamela Fraser is an artist that works in a variety of materials and formats, primarily engaged with painting and based in Vermont. Fraser received her BFA in painting from the School of Visual Arts in New York and her MFA in New Genres from UCLA. She has exhibited her work internationally for over twenty years including solo exhibitions at The Blaffer Museum in Houston, TX, Galerie Schmidt Maczolleck in Cologne, Germany, Galleria Il Capricorno in Venice, Italy, asprey jacques in London, England, Casey Kaplan in New York, NY and Paris London Hong Kong in Chicago. Her work has been reviewed in publications including The New York Times and Artforum, and she has been the recipient of awards including the Louis Comfort Tiffany and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Fraser is the author of How Color Works: Color Theory in the 21st Century (Oxford University Press 2019) and the co-editor of Beyond Critique: Contemporary Art in Practice, Theory and Instruction (Bloomsbury Press 2017, 2020). She is currently working on paintings, ceramic sculpture, and a book on the material culture of color. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Vermont. In 2021, Pamela’s ceramic work was featured in Sculpture I at Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus OH.

Erika b Hess is included with a pair of recent paintings, mystical landscapes that communicate emotions and experiences through the vibrant language of color, anchoring itself in the recurring motif of puddles. Puddles, symbolizing emotions and experiences, are fleeting pools of water that mirror their surroundings. They materialize with the rain and vanish just as swiftly, paralleling the impermanence of human experience. Puddles also serve as metaphors for our past and future. They tend to form in the same location, etching impressions in the environment much like how our experiences deepen pathways within our psyche. In the realm of Jungian psychology, water symbolizes the subconscious—a domain where the surface often conceals hidden depths. The artist draws inspiration from Jung's assertion that "Water means spirit that has become unconscious." Her art delves into this uncharted spirit, abstractly painting the water's surface to evoke movement while hinting at the enigmatic depths beneath.

Erika b Hess is an artist and curator who maintains studios in Columbus, OH, and Long Island City, NY. Hess received her MFA from Boston University. Her work has been exhibited nationally, including Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, Last Projects, Los Angeles, CA, The Yard, Brooklyn, Prince Street Gallery, NYC, and Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA. Her work has been featured in various publications, including Visionary Arts Magazine, AllSHEMakes, Poets and Artists, Fresh Paint, and Post Industrial Complex, a book released by the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. She was named Artistic Director of Chautauqua Visual Arts in 2024. She frequently lectures at colleges such as Ohio State University, Wellesley College, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, and Montana University, among many others. Hess has served on panels such as the Cleveland Institute of Art’s “Feminism Now: Exposing the Truth,” Boston University’s “Building Collaborative Art Spaces,” and other panels that discuss the overlap between feminism, community, and art. In 2023, Erika both curated and exhibited work in the group show I Spy a May Queen at Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH.

Diana Higgins continues to draw from her urban neighborhoods with work focusing on the visual and cultural identity of areas around the boroughs of New York. Her paintings are rooted in her emotional and perceptual responses to these specific places. She uses a variety of painting techniques to convey the experience of place, as mediated through a camera lens. In these particular paintings, she revels in how nature creeps into spaces abandoned or neglected. She paints on a smaller scale with great attention to detail.

Daina Higgins is a multimedia artist based in New York, NY. She is originally from Columbus where she graduated from the Fort Hayes High School. She attended pre-college programs at The Ohio State University, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pratt Institute, before going to the School of Visual Arts in New York, where she received her BFA in 2001, followed by an MFA from the Queens College CUNY in 2009. Her works have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the country including Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York City, NY, The Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH, The Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY, the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, PA, SUNY Westchester Community College, Valhalla, NY and The Cosmopolitan Club of Philadelphia, PA. She has been awarded multiple Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grants, as well as the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA grant and the Silas H. Rhodes Merit Scholarship. In 2021, Daina had a solo exhibition, Pandemic/Protest, at Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH and in 2023 was part of a virtual exhibition Summertime 2023: A Virtual Exhibition with Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus OH.

Nikos Fyodor Rutkowski’s new floral works bring a Cubist approach with collage and a myriad of painting techniques. As an avid amateur ecologist, Nikos frequently draws inspiration from nature, often referencing natural elements such as insects, plants, and fungi in his work. He often employs a technique called “bookmatching” where he mirrors sewing patterns by placing them side by side to make them appear as a single image. The fact that the patterns are often inexact copies of one another leads to a slightly distorted symmetry- visually reminiscent of features in the natural world.

Rutkowski is a painter based in Columbus, Ohio. After attending Fort Hayes High School for a focus in the arts, Rutkowski received his Bachelor in Fine Arts from The Columbus College of Art and Design. In 2021, Nikos won the Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. He has also frequently participated in Art for Life. In 2021, Nikos exhibited in Contemporary Art Matters Inaugural Exhibition. Recently, Nikos had a solo exhibition Personae at Contemporary Art Matters, and exhibited at Modfellows Art Gallery, Nashville, TN in Rituals of Renewal.

Billy Sullivan is included with a beautiful still life painting, a setting from his home in East Hampton. Like much of his work, ephemeral moments from his surroundings serve as a window into his life. Sullivan is known for a diaristic practice that straddles the vitality of fleeting moments and the construction of retrieved remembrance. Sullivan came of age in the social milieus around Andy Warhol and Max’s Kansas City. Noted for his loose, gestural mark-making and unexpected color combinations, his portraits and still lives draw viewers into the atmosphere as participants rather than mere observers. Sullivan's paintings, drawings, and photographs are saturated with the intimacy of the “muses” in his own life, present and past—friends, lovers, artists, writers, allies and other collaborators.

Sullivan grew up in New York and attended the High School of Art and Design before he received a BFA at the School of Visual Arts. He has exhibited widely in the United States and internationally with Kaufmann Repetto, New York, NY and Milan Italy, The Madoo Conservancy, Long Island, NY, Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover MA, and is included in the prestigious collections of institutions and museums including the Detroit Institute of Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, The Norton Museum, The General Electric Company, Dow Jones Company and The Museum of Modern Art. In 2023 he had a solo exhibition Dog Days of Summer at Timothy Taylor, New York, Studio Visit at Kaufmann Repetto, New York, NY and a group exhibition Friends & Lovers, The Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY.

Devon Tsuno’s stunning paintings draw from his heritage as a fourth generation Angeleno, with emphasis on Japanese and Okinawan American history. Tsuno's work is a Yonsei story, in other words an immigrant story, a Los Angeles story, indissociable from the complexities of intergenerational collective trauma, gentrification, displacement, water and labor politics, including how and where we choose to live. His spray paint and acrylic paintings of plants and water document this history and our shared multigenerational connections. Working with spray paint and acrylic on handmade Japanese, Dutch and Indian papers, Tsuno’s paintings focus on the Los Angeles landscape’s non-native plants and bodies of water. These abstractions of densely layered water and plants are re-imagined from photographs taken on cycling, fly fishing and commuting sojourns on the streets of Los Angeles along the San Gabriel River, Ballona Creek, Los Angeles River, and the Mid-Wilshire area of the city.

Devon Tsuno is a Japanese American painter who lives and works in Los Angeles, Californai and received an MFA from Claremont Graduate University in 2005 and a BFA from California State University Long Beach in 2003. Tsuno has exhibited extensively in the US and abroad at the Hammer Museum Venice Beach Biennial, California, Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, Current: LA Water Public Art Triennial, Los Angeles, California, Candlewood Arts Festival, DENK Gallery, U.S. Embassy in New Zealand, and Gallery Lara in Tokyo, Japan. His work has been featured in Artillery Magazine, X-TRA Journal, and Notes on Looking. Since 2003, Devon has worked as the founder/ director of Concrete Walls, an artist-run curatorial project that focuses on building community by facilitating collaborations, educational projects, and group exhibitions throughout Southern California. Tsuno is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at California State University Dominguez Hills and founder/co-director of the CSUDH PRAXIS art engagement program. Recent group exhibitions include in 2024, Gallery Selects Group Exhibition, Residency Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.