Contemporary Art Matters is pleased to present Case Studies, a solo exhibition of compelling new work by photographer Jared Thorne. In this series, Thorne turns his lens toward the personal bookcase, recasting a familiar household feature into a revealing portrait of identity. 

The exhibition will be on view at the gallery’s 243 N. 5th Street, Columbus, OH, location from November 6 through December 18, 2025.

At an early age, Sarah Fairchild was exposed to contrasts in décor: her aunt’s chic 1970s home, decorated in velvets, metallic wallpapers, chrome, and shag carpet, stood in sharp contrast to her mother’s restrained formula of muted floral wallpaper with a matching valance and pillow. Those interiors shaped her eye for ornament, surface, and excess, and continue to inform the breadth of her work. Her Flower Remedy paintings revisit that history, blending pattern with imperfection and choice, allowing the paintings to almost merge with their surroundings. In this, she takes what she inherited, resists control, and claims ornament as a choice, a personal language, and an act of resistance.

Fairchild’s work explores the connection between nature and artifice, between interior and exterior. She renders botanical and animal forms in heightened color and intricate detail—recognizable but never exact—interpretations shaped by memory and touch. These pieces gleam with metallic surfaces and bright, unexpected colors not necessarily found in nature: pink snakes, gold or black velvet leaves, electric blues. While the result might seem whimsical or innocuous, something darker lies beneath—sometimes literal trash: discarded plastic packaging embedded under gilded petals or wings.

Laura Sanders’ paintings consider the complexities of what appears to be a simple act, spending time alone in nature. As a survivor of sexual assault, a reality shared by many, she reflects on the constant calculations women and girls are forced to make each day. Vigilance intrudes on solitude, turning a routine walk into an anxious yet bold act.

In dialogue with ecofeminist traditions, Sanders draws parallels between the threats women face and the violence inflicted on the environment. Visual metaphors of this reciprocal relationship emerge in the way light transforms as it passes through the landscape, revealing evidence of the surroundings when it strikes the figure. While women are often depicted in idyllic natural scenes, Sanders challenges these conventions, rejecting the cliché that equates feminine beauty with nature and suggesting instead that women’s destructive instincts are no less potent than men’s. Her paintings articulate these fears and longings with an expressive brush that puts forefront the tactile and luscious material qualities of oil paint. The robust use of paint creates an almost photorealistic image that, when viewed in person, reveals its construction, inviting viewers to slow down and experience the physical evidence of the hand in the haptic marks of the paint.