Interviews by Brainard Carey

Elise Engler’s art ranges from the personal to the political, to various combinations of those elements. Her work consists of meticulous, highly pictorial drawings and paintings that capture and document the material world in all its myriad details. Her projects are large in scope, but often intimate in format, and are a narrative investigation of the world seen through its innumerable, but countable, individual components, assembled in suites and series of works.

Engler has received a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in drawing, and an Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation grant in painting. She has been the recipient of two MacDowell residencies, a Yaddo fellowship and a fellowship at Civatella Ranieri, In Umbria, Italy. She spent 2 months in Antarctica as an awardee of a National Science Foundation Antarctica Artists and Writers Grant. Her work has been written about in Art in America, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, among other publications, and she has shown in galleries across the U.S. and in Europe. Her project, A Year on Broadway, was featured on CBS Sunday Morning. Her book, A Diary of the Plague Year: An Illustrated Chronicle of 2020, Metropolitan Books/ Henry Holt/ MacMillan) was published in 2022. Engler lives and works in New York City.

Box Camera, 2024 Oil on panel, 6 x 7 x 1 1/2 in 15.2 x 17.8 x 3.8 cm.

January 6, 2021, 2023 Oil on canvas, 62 x 52 in 157.5 x 132.1 cm

Homage to Florine Stettheimer’s Cathedral of Art, 2024 Oil on panel, 5 x 6 x 1 1/2 in 12.7 x 15.2 x 3.8 cm

Ever Baldwin lives and works in Catskill, NY. They hold a BFA in painting from The Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from The School of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Recent solo exhibitions include The Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME; LeFebvre et Fils, Paris; Emma Gray HQ, Los Angeles, CA; and JAG Projects, Hudson, NY.

Their work has been included in groups shows at Vielmetter, Los Angeles, CA; Modern Art, London; and Art Omi, Ghent, NY among others.

Ever Baldwin, A new you, 2024, Oil on canvas in painted pine frame with 22k gold leaf, 60 x 40 x 10 inches.

Ever Baldwin, Muffy, 2023, Oil on canvas in charred wood frame, 38 x 40 x 4 inches.

Ever Baldwin, Hot and cold, 2024, oil on canvas in painted pine frame with aluminum, 38 x 30 x 4 inches.

Anne Brandhøj with the interactive sculptures she created for Designmuseum Danmark, which are permanently installed in the museum's garden.

Anne Brandhøj is a Danish artist and designer whose practice centers around sustainability. From sourcing and harvesting timber to drying, processing, and finishing each piece by hand, her distinct designs take form around the natural irregularities of each length of wood. Its grain, knots, splits, and coloration guide her decisions and remain as elements of the final work. Rather than imposing her creative ideas on the material, Brandhøj works with the chance variations offered by nature, allowing her to incorporate offcuts that might otherwise end up as waste. Their unique textures and patterning are highlighted, polished into delicate eddies and currents that reveal the innate beauty of the material, whether made from oakwood, walnut, Douglas fir, cherry, or beech. In addition to her playful functional objects, she creates large-scale sculptures whose undulating vertical forms reiterate abstract motifs as though materializing the movement of sound—its waves, ripples, and echoes.

“I die a little bit inside every time I see furniture with a smooth surface where you cannot see any structure, any knot, anything at all,” says Brandhøj. “It’s a shame when there is so much beauty in the wood to show.”

Brandhøj received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in furniture design from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. She is a founding partner of Bly Studio, and currently serves as a teaching assistant at The Royal Academy. Brandhøj has exhibited throughout Denmark and internationally. In 2022, she was commissioned by Designmuseum Danmark to create a permanent sculptural installation for the museum, in collaboration with the Kay Bojesen Foundation.

Inner Beauty Pedestals, 2023 Cherry 58.5" H x 17.5" W x 15.75” D 75", H x 12.5" W x 10.25” D 51.25", H x 10.25" W x 8.75” D.

Works by Anne Brandhøj installed at Hostler Burrows New York

Sculpture, 2024, ash, 9.5" H x 7.5" W x 5.25" D, Rooting 11, 2023, maple and glazed porcelain, 8" L x 4.75" Dia. (collaboration with Signe Fensholt),  Rooting 22, 2023, cherry and glazed porcelain, 17" H x 10.25" Dia. (collaboration with Signe Fensholt), Rooting 6, 2023, cherry and glazed porcelain, 10" H x 7" Dia. (collaboration with Signe Fensholt), Sculpture, 2024, cherry, 12.25" H x 7.5" W x 6.5” D

Pedestal, 2024, cherry, 16"H x 11.5" Dia.

Hilary Irons is a Maine-based painter and curator. She is gallery and exhibitions director at the University of New England.

Hilary received an MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2008 and a BFA from Parsons School of Design in 2002, and she has attended residencies at the Albers Foundation, Skowhegan, MacDowell, the American Academy in Rome, the Pace House, Hewnoaks, Canterbury Shaker Village, and the Surf Point Foundation. She has written for The Chart, Art New England, Boston Art Review, and other publications.

Her work revolves around opticality, the landscape, and material culture, exploring the ways in which our reading of space and objects are impacted by color, mark, and light.

Hilary Irons, Legion of Mary, 2024, Oil, acrylic, and marble dust on panel 18h x 18w in 45.72h x 45.72w cm. Photo courtesy of the artist and Morgan Lehman Gallery

Hilary Irons, Ash Pail and Duck Askoi, 2022, Oil, acrylic, and marble dust on panel, 17 3/4h x 17 3/4w in 45.09h x 45.09w cm. Photo courtesy of the artist and Morgan Lehman Gallery

Hilary Irons, My Funny Valentine, 2022, Oil, acrylic, and marble dust on panel, 14h x 11w in 35.56h x 27.94w cm. Photo courtesy of the artist and Morgan Lehman Gallery

Alyina Zaidi at Alexander Berggruen, NY, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Berggruen, NY.

Alyina Zaidi (b. 1995, New Delhi, India) holds an MA in painting from the Royal College Of Art, London and a BA from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Alexander Berggruen, New York, NY; Newchild Gallery, Antwerp, BE; Indigo + Madder Gallery, London, UK; Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK; and White Cube, London, UK, among others. Zaidi is a London-based artist from New Delhi and Srinagar. This is Zaidi’s first solo show with the gallery, following her inclusion in the gallery’s group show Katja Farin, Maria Farrar, Esme Hodsoll, Alyina Zaidi (March 1-April 5, 2023).

In Lost in the belly of a whale, Zaidi establishes stronger narrative threads with more action than her previous work. Here, nomadic white strawberries attempt to herd their goats and are at war with imperial frogs. In the top left register of Facts and hearsay—an encyclopaedia of various natural and less natural phenomena, these frogs steal the moon. Angels purchase Moons for sale and, in Dubious benediction, guard pickle jars of frogs and moons. On occasion, the unreliable nature of history emerges where portions of the composition are swallowed by dark orbs Zaidi calls “the cave of the unknown.” These nebulous scenes offer a mode of abstraction for the artist and indicate that there is more to learn about this universe.

Further embracing reality-warping unknowns, Zaidi’s paintings are filled with magic and mythology. As in previous work by the artist, cherry tomatoes and radishes become spirits, angels with opulent tentacled wings populate most paintings, chilis hang to ward off the evil eye, and rituals are performed around the moon for luck. New supernatural elements in this body of work include poltergeists who lurk in windows and sacred trees. In Zaidi’s painting Euphemia and the assassin, she alludes to a version of the story of Saint Euphemia’s martyrdom in which she was thrown into an arena with lions meant to kill her. In the Islamic tradition of indirect representation, rather than painting Euphemia as a person, Zaidi paints her as a bejeweled textile surrounded by lacy fabric. In a playful rendition of the tale, here, Euphemia is cradled in a hammock of lions’ tails.

Alyina Zaidi, Perfumed veils and gauzy tails, 2024, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 16 in. (40.6 x 40.6 cm.). Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Berggruen, NY. Photo: Mark Blower

Alyina Zaidi, Dubious benediction, 2024, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 in. (76.2 x 76.2 cm.), Copyright the artist. Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Berggruen, NY. Photo: Mark Blower

Alyina Zaidi, Facts and hearsay—an encyclopaedia of various natural and less natural phenomena, 2024 acrylic on canvas, quadriptych, overall: 77 x 200 in. (195.6 x 508 cm.), each: 77 x 50 in. (195.6 x 127 cm.). Copyright the artist. Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Berggruen, NY. Photo: Dario Lasagni

Szot (b. 1976)  has exhibited his work in many  galleries across the United States from New York to Los Angeles and Texas. Szot's paintings have been exhibited in the Saatchi Gallery in London and, in 2014, the artist was invited to participate in the Whitney Museum Art Party. His work is in  public collections, including Credit Suisse, and  numerous private collections, such as  Beth DeWoody and the Bass Family. The artist currently lives and works in both Los Angeles, CA and Brooklyn, NY.

Ejecta, 80 x 58 inches, oil, metal leaf and charcoal on linen, 2024.

Good Luck Flag (Diptych), 74 x 100 inches, oil, metal leaf and charcoal on linen, 2024.

Soft Story,  52 x 70 inches oil, metal leaf and charcoal on linen, 2024.

Portrait Monica BonviciniCourtesy the artist, © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn 2022 / Photo by Olaf Heine

Born in Venice, Italy, Monica Bonvicini currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. The artist studied at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA.

Since the 1990s, Monica Bonvicini has had numerous exhibitions and projects around the world. Upcoming, the artist will have a major solo exhibition at Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (2022). Other significant solo exhibitions include Hurricanes and other Catastrophes at Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2022), I Don’t Like You Very Much at Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (2022), LOVER’S MATERIAL at Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany (2020), I CANNOT HIDE MY ANGER at Belvedere 21 Museum of Contemporary Art, Vienna (2019), As Walls Keep Shifting at OGR, Turin, Italy (2019), Monica Bonvicini at Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (2017), her hand around the room at BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, Newcastle (2016), BOTH ENDS at Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel (2011), Desire Deseise Devise at Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2012), Monica Bonvicini at Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France (2009), Monica Bonvicini / Tom Burr at Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2009), Focus: Monica Bonvicini–Light Me Black at Art Institute of Chicago (2009), NEVER MISSING A LINE at Sculpture Center, New York (2007), Monica Bonvicini at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2002), among others.

Bonvicini has earned several awards, including the Golden Lion at the Biennale di Venezia (1999); the Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst, from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (2005); the Rolandpreis für Kunst for Art in Public Space from the Foundation Bremen, Germany (2013); the Hans Platschek Prize for Art and Writing, Germany (2019); the Oskar Kokoschka Prize, Austria (2020).

Monica Bonvicini’s works can be found permanently installed in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London; on the waterfront at Bjørvika, before the Den Norske Opera & Ballett House, Oslo; the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art (2003-2019); and the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Bremen, among others.

Monica Bonvicini, Chainswing Rings & Stripes 2024 Galvanized steel chains, chain quick fasteners, belting leather, rivets, galvanized steel rings Dimensions variable Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles

Monica Bonvicini, Stay Home 2024 Silkscreen and tempera on Fabriano paper 78 3/4 x 59 inches; 200 x 150 cm (unframed) 82 5/8 x 63 inches; 210 x 160 cm (framed) Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles

Monica Bonvicini, Installation view, Put All Heaven in a Rage, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, 2024. Photo by Pierre Le Hors Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles

Jammie Holmes in his Dallas studio, 2024. Photo by  Daisy Avalos

Morning Thoughts takes its title from a 1981 Gil Scott-Heron song by the same name. Throughout the song’s soft, spoken-word lyrics Scott-Heron meditates on the magical potential felt in the moment when night quietly turns to day—on the possibilities that radiate in the first light of morning, as the morning glory and daylily buds open. With his newest body of work, Holmes captures this moment of possibility alongside the inevitable moments of loss that follow as flowers wilt, as color seeps away—the dichotomy of morning and mourning. Underneath all of this,Morning Thoughts embodies the resilience of Holmes, of his community: morning glory and daylily flowers may wilt and die by dusk, but the plants and their roots remain. With Morning Thoughts, Holmes reminds us that hope and loss go hand-in-hand—but beauty remains for those willing to see it, that flowers bloom again in the morning.

Jammie Holmes’s first solo museum exhibition, Jammie Holmes: Make the Revolution Irresistible, was presented at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX in 2023.

His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including:Afro-Atlantic Histories, which traveled to the Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, CA; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Dallas Museum of Art, TX. His work has also been included in group exhibitions at the New OrleansMuseum of Art, LA; the China Center of International Contemporary Art Vancouver, Canada;Columbus Museum of Art, OH; Dallas Contemporary, TX; and many more.

Jammie Holmes - ‘Black Market’ (2024) - copyright of Jammie Holmes and courtesy of Marianne Boesky Gallery

Jammie Holmes - ‘Morning Glory’ (2024) - copyright of Jammie Holmes and courtesy of Marianne Boesky Gallery

Jammie Holmes - ‘Malcolm’ (2024) - copyright of Jammie Holmes and courtesy of Marianne Boesky Gallery

portrait_Henri-Kisielewski

Michael Iveson (b. 1984, Northern Ireland) lives and works in London. Iveson is a painter, printmaker and installation artist whose works investigates social divisions, the interplay between the abstract space of advertising, fear and desire and their concrete manifestations through status, consumption and the lived environment.

Iveson has previously exhibited with Foreign & Domestic at the Salon de Normandy, Paris, in 2019, and at the Averard Hotel, London, in 2016 and 2018, with conceptual and site-specific architectural interventions in painted bubblewrap and experimental printmaking.

Iveson, Palette (HTSI) no.5, 2024 erased magazine pages with extracted pigment 13 ¾ x 22 in

Iveson, Anonymous (watcher), 2024 extracted pigment on canvas with artist made frame 9 7/8 x 12 5/8 x 1 in

Iveson, Boots, 2024 extracted pigment on canvas with artist made frame 12 ½ x 14 1/8 x 1 1/8 in

Iveson, How much land does a man need?, 2024 extracted pigment on canvas with artist made frame 14 ¼ x 12 ¼ x 1 in

Kati Gegenheimer, photograph by Mark Gibson

Kati Gegenheimer was born in Bucks County, PA, in 1984 and lives and works in Philadelphia, PA, where she is an Assistant Adjunct Professor at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture. 

She received a MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University in 2013 and a BFA in Printmaking and Art History from the Tyler School of Art in 2007.  Her works have been exhibited in solo exhibitions at North Orange, Montclair, NJ, 2022 and Gross McLeaf, Philadelphia, PA, 2021.

Group and two-artist exhibitions include Kati Gegenheimer | Chenlu Hou, Kristen Lorello, New York, NJ, 2023, Mars in Cancer, David Peterson Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2023, Reveries, Peep Projects, Philadelphia, PA, 2022, and Good Pictures, curated by Austin Lee, Jeffrey Deitch, New York, NY, 2020.  She is the recipient of a Yaddo Artist Access Grant and a smART Ventures Grant, and has been granted artist residencies at The Goldey House Artist Residency, the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency, and the Pollock-Krasner Residency at Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY.

Kati Gegenheimer, Shell Songs, 2024, Oil on linen, 24 x 18 inches, Courtesy of the Artist and Kristen Lorello, NY, Photo: Charles Benton

Kati Gegenheimer, Correspondence, 2024, Oil on linen, 24 x 36 inches, Courtesy of the Artist and Kristen Lorello, NY, Photo: Charles Benton

Kati Gegenheimer, Atlas of Feeling, 2024, Oil on linen, 24 x 18 inches, Courtesy of the Artist and Kristen Lorello, NY, Photo: Charles Benton