Summer Portrait Show

On view through September 16, 2021

Contemporary Art Matters is pleased to present Summer Portrait Show, a group show featuring portraiture by Linda Gall, Kira Nam Greene, Erika b. Hess, Laura Larson, Lisa McLymont, Laura Sanders, Billy Sullivan and Jared Thorne.

Ohio native Linda Gall received her BFA and MFA from Rutgers University. Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions throughout the Midwest. She is represented by Hammond Harkins Gallery and currently lives and works in Zanesville, Ohio.

Born in Seoul, Korea, Kira Nam Greene lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA from San Francisco Art Institute, her MFA from School of Visual Arts and her BA in International Relations from Seoul National University. Prior to becoming an artist, Greene earned her Ph. D in Political Science from Stanford University, specializing in Political Economy in East Asia, and taught wide variety of subject matters in Political Economy both in academic and business settings.

Erika b Hess is a painter recognized for her use and interest in color. Her work has been exhibited nationally including Prince Street Gallery in NYC, Last Projects in Los Angles, CA, and Boston Center for the Arts in Boston, MA. In 2017, she had two solo exhibitions, “The Line Between the Past and the Present” at Musa Collective in Allston, MA, and “Viewing Light” at Newton Free Library in Newton, MA. Her work has been featured in various publications including, Poets and Artists, Fresh Paint, Charles River Journal and Post Industrial Complex, a book released by the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. Her work was selected by John Seed to be featured in “Fifty Memorable Artists 2015.” She has served on panels such as Cleveland Institute of Art’s “Feminism Now: Exposing the Truth”, Boston University’s “Creative Capital: Building Collaborative Art Space,” and was a visiting juror for Dayton Visual Art Center’s 2016-2018 biennial. She created the podcast I Like Your Work and is a co-founder of MUSA Collective, an artist-run collective in Boston. She received her MFA from Boston University.

Laura Larson has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, including Art in General, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, SFCamerawork, Susanne Vielmetter/L.A. Projects, and Wexner Center for the Arts. Her exhibitions have been reviewed in Artforum, Hyperallergic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time Out New York, and she has published artist projects in Cabinet, Documents, and The Literary Review. Her first book, Hidden Mother (Saint Lucy Books, 2017), was shortlisted for the Aperture/Paris Photo First Book Prize.

Born in Manhattan, Lisa McLymont is a graduate of Ohio State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Design. She has served as adjunct faculty member at Columbus College of Art and Design and Ohio Dominican University. She has a studio at Blockfort cooperative in Columbus, and is an administrator of the Art and Artists Of Network (AAAO), Creative Arts of Women (CAW!), and the Creative Women of Color (CWoC). McLymont’s work has been included in numerous exhibits in the Central Ohio area.

Laura Sanders is a figurative painter whose work explores women in landscape with an interest in the emotional, painterly and political aspects of the mise en scène. Her paintings of people in the woods or in the ocean capture the realistic sense of the figure and the environment, while maintaining a high level of painterly qualities. Sanders received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio in 1988. She has exhibited her works at galleries and museums across the US. She has received several grants and awards including the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award and most recently artist residency at the Headlands for the Arts, Sausalito, California.

Billy Sullivan has been making paintings and drawings of his friends and his surroundings since the 1970’s. The bohemian glamour of his still lifes and the casual intimacy of his portraits distinguishes him as a New York artist. In all of the work, we are comfortable in the company of the artist.

Born in New York, NY, Billy Sullivan attended the High School of Art and Design and received a BFA at the School of Visual Arts. He divides his time between studios in New York and East Hampton. He has exhibited internationally and is included in the prestigious collections of institutions and museums including the Detroit Institute of Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, The General Electric Company, Dow Jones Company and The Museum of Modern Art.

Jared Thorne holds a BA in English Literature from Dartmouth College, studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and received his MFA from Columbia University. Thorne is an Associate Professor in the Art Department at The Ohio State University. Before joining OSU, Jared taught at the collegiate level in South Africa. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and was the recipient of the Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts Fellowship at the University of Cape Town and awarded an artist residency at the Woodstock A.I.R. Program.