b.1966
I was born in Maine to German parents living in America under the Marshall plan. In 1973, my family moved to Iran, which we fled during the revolution in 1979. Back in Germany, I studied painting at the University of Arts in Berlin from 1986-1989. I dropped out and travelled the world as a street musician and performance artist. In 1991, I picked up my brushes again and started organizing art shows wherever I travelled. 1995 I moved to New York. In 2000, I opened a restaurant to showcase my work in Brooklyn. In 2005, I started to narrow down my color spectrum to teal, white, black and rust. In 2009 I reintroduced collage and this element created a real conversation that keeps evolving.
Artist Statement: PAINT, RUST, COLLAGE, GLAZE
I start the painting with a narrow color spectrum: teal, black white and a grey iron oxide. This spectrum shifts the moment I oxidize the finished work: the grey turns into rich orange brown tones I have no control of and spill into the other colors, pushing the blue towards green and staining the white as well as the black. This blue/green spectrum is where I am slightly color blind too: the aqua/teal is right on that blue/green cusp I am “impaired” or as I feel “empowered” with an unusual perspective and as I later found out close to the spectrum by which some severely color blind people see.
Once rusted I collage or better “retro-collage” the work by bringing bits and pieces of the original image pushed in colors. It is daunting to cover up one’s own hard earned strokes, but the conversation between the collage and the painting is too irresistible to stop. Then I glaze lightly with oil to bring back the overall contrast of lights and shadows.
My paintings are a “quilted” Americana: though figurative, I discreetly bring in abstract shapes without interrupting the figurative work – taking place with patches of collage. From a distance they may reminisce of “crazy quilts” or Gee’s Bend quilts, close up though they are clearly figurative.
EDUCATION
1987-1989
University of the Arts (HDK)
Berlin, Germany
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2014
Threads of a Story: History Inspiring Art
National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, Tennessee
Curated by Barbara Andrews
2013
Threads of a Story: History Inspiring Art
National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, Tennessee
Curated by Barbara Andrews
Threads of a Story: History Inspiring Art
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atrium Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
2012
The Day Bayard Rustin Came to Town
Memphis Public Library, Goodwyn Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee
Curated by Wang-Ying Glasgow
Freedom Riders: Threads of a Story
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Threads of a Story: Continued
Gallery on High, Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Curated by Erika Hornburg-Cooper
Danke Fred Series
John Davis Gallery, Hudson, New York
Freedom Riders: Threads of a Story
The African American Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Threads of a Story: History Inspiring Art
Troy University Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery, Alabama
Curated by Georgette M. Norman
2011
Freedom Riders
Playmakers Theatre, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Threads of a Story: History Inspiring Art
Nashville Public Library Courtyard Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee
Curated by Elyse Adler
Freedom Riders
WGBH Educational Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts
Curated by Germaine Frechette
2010
Freedom Riders
Mountain Film Festival, Aha School of Art, Telluride, Colorado
Curated by Barbel Hacke
Freedom Riders and Bus Boycotters
President’s Gallery, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, New York
Curated by Lisa Farrington
2009
Can’t Live the Commonest Way on Six Bits a Day
NYSG Gallery, New York, New York
Inappropriately Dressed
Boltax Gallery, Shelter Island, Long Island, New York
Americana and Recent Works
Bridge Art Fair, New York, New York
2008
Americana
Bread, New York, New York
Annals of America
Gloria Kennedy Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Americana
Gloria Kennedy Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
2007
Americana
The Stairwell, Brooklyn, New York
2006
Recent Works
East West Gallery, Milano, Italy
2002
Cocoa Cultures
The Boathouse in Central Park, New York, New York
2001
Twisted Bag Mouths, Knifethrust Eyes and Legs, Legs, Legs: “Anyway Let’s Dance!”
Paris NY Studio, New York, New York
2000
Anyway Let’s Dance
Paris NY Studio, New York, New York
1999
Carnivores, Kitchen Cowboys & Dirty Dishes
Paris NY Studio, New York, New York
1998
Bitch Icons, Freak Fables & Lucid Two Faced Smiles
Paris NY Studio, New York, New York
1996
Sailors, Drunkards, & Prostitutes….
Bell Café, New York, New York
1995
The Red Door — It Was Once Red
La Voile Rouge, Miami Beach, Florida
1994
Miami Twilight Zone: Warming Up The Atmosphere
Miami Beach, Florida
1993
Old World / New World
Tresor, Berlin, Germany
1992
Big Foot in Blue Door
Artist Incubator, Tokyo, Japan
Charlotta Janssen
Café de La Poste, Paris, France
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012
Resurrected Walt Cessna
MUNCH Gallery, New York, New York
2011
Mountain Film Festival
Telluride Gallery of Fine Arts, Telluride, Colorado
Prints and Paintings
Bowery Beef and Lounge, New York, New York
Triumph, Ritual, and Remembrance: SONY Artists Celebrate Black History Month
Tillies of Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York
2009
Fountain Art Fair
Art Basel, Boltax Gallery, Miami, Florida
2007
Art London
Simon Sieff Gallery, London, England
East West Art
Stragapede, Perini Gallery, Milano, Italy
2006
Recent Work
East West Gallery, Milano, Italy
2003
Shanghai Spring Art Salon
Commerce Center, Shanghai, China
1999
Gate To Berlin
Zionskirche, Berlin, Germany
1997
Brainthang
Thread Waxing Space, New York, New York
Not the Biennial
New York, New York
1995
Biennial
New York, New York
LECTURES / GALLERY TALKS
2012
Freedom Riders: Democracy in Action Community Event (lecture)
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Facing History and Ourselves (lecture)
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
2011
Nashville Public Library Courtyard Gallery (gallery talk), Nashville, Tennessee
2010
President’s Gallery (gallery talk), John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, New York
2009
Boltax Gallery (gallery talk), Shelter Island, Long Island, New York
