Voltz Clarke Gallery X Penske Projects are pleased to present START SOMEWHERE
START SOMEWHERE is an inaugural collaboration between East and West coast gallerists working predominantly with emerging US and International artists that will be on view online from August 1st through September 18th, 2020. The positive power of art to heal and bring us together has never been so important as in these turbulent and challenging times. The very notion of ‘collaboration’ is an important step in how we must proceed if we are to heal; we must call upon each other and fellow communities for constant support. We must all START SOMEWHERE.
Selected Artists
New York born Heather Benjamin received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including solo exhibitions at Muddguts (NYC), These Days (LA), and Commune (Tokyo). Selected recent group shows include exhibitions at Jeffrey Deitch (LA), Mana Contemporary (NJ), and Andrew Edlin (NY). She has also curated group shows at Andrew Edlin (NY), New Image Art (LA), and 182 Ave C (NY). Benjamin also publishes her own artist’s books and zines of her drawings and has been tabling at Printed Matter’s art book fairs since 2010. Upcoming projects include solo exhibitions at the Hessel Museum at Bard (NY), New Image Art (LA) and Bim Bam Gallery (Paris). Benjamin lives and works in New York City.
Having grown up in Marseille, CéPé attributes his inspiration to the light and colors characteristic of the south of France. Cépé refers to these as the sources of his creative energy, and their presence is clear in his work. His digital creations, which resemble paintings, are inspired by the artistic movements that have influenced him the most, notably cubism and expressionism. In each of his works, he loves to deconstruct space, bodies, and faces to imagine a world that is distorted and innocent. Scenes of everyday life and the nude are his most cherished subjects.
Jackson Casady’s work ricochets between ordinary and extraordinary, reality and fantasy within its own sunny, satirical spirit of a California folk sensibility. He was born in 1995 in Pasadena, CA and graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Studio Art and Business. Casady lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Voltz Clarke Gallery artist Jeff Chester’s work interrogates the self through a multiversal atemporal lens. Historical motifs and traditions of painting are aggregated with contemporary nihilistic anxiety.
Voltz Clarke Gallery artist Heather Chontos focuses her studio practice on the ambiguity and unique beauty of abstract expressionism, creating artwork that explores compositions of invisible light, like a secret language only spoken through her various mediums, color palettes, forms and marks.
Voltz Clarke Gallery artist Holly Cunningham’s work is inspired by her surroundings and her passion for plein air paintings is evident in her classically inspired paintings. Holly Cunningham’s attention to color is translated into conceptual abstraction that capture her own environment in a special and timeless way.
Gigi Rose Gray is a fine artist and illustrator, born and raised in New York and now living in Los Angeles. Having received her BFA at Parsons NewSchool for Design, she has since worked on a variety of projects from editorial, branding and advertising together with clients such as the New York Times, The Dorchester Collection and Universal Records. She has also exhibited her work at Christie’s, the National Arts Club in New York and Somerset House in London.
Kellen Hatanka is a Japanese-Canadian artist from Toronto, currently living and working in Stratford, Ontario. Hatanka’s work centers around the Asian American experience, heritage and the value of representation.
Voltz Clarke Gallery artist Natasha Law is a Camberwell College of Art graduate, and best known for her graceful silhouettes. Her paintings and drawings alike capture the allure of the subject through color, tone, and contrast. Law’s portraiture conveys delicacy while keeping a distinct contemporary feel.
Voltz Clarke Gallery artist Landon Nordeman looks for the eternal in the ephemeral. Nordeman photographs fine art projects and works for commercial and editorial clients around the world.
Voltz Clarke Gallery artist Stephanie Patton states that humor plays an important role in her work. Patton expressed that she often uses it as a device to bring attention to more critical issues. Over the course of her artistic career, Patton has found that creating humorous objects often breaks down barriers and allows for the beginning of an open and genuine dialog between her art, the audience and herself. In this way, humor transformas Patton’s personal experience into something universal.
Voltz Clarke Gallery guest artist Xaivier Ringer is a U.S. born muralist painter living in Rome, Georgia. Ringer blazed her own trail by creating artist-led developments that are community owned. She is known as the International Muralist because of her expansive reach across the globe with her signature vast brushstrokes.
Aidan Romick is a Los Angeles based artist whose work explores the facets of femininity. Through painting and drawing, her work focuses both on the physical body as well as the cultural implications of the female identity. She is working on canvas with oil paint, although she also employs graphite and charcoal in her work. Romick is currently earning her MFA at California Institute of the Arts.
Ammon Rost is a Tokyo born, Los Angeles and New York City based artist who received his BFA from UCLA. His work has been shown in solo shows at Ltd Los Angeles and New Image Art; as well as group shows with Loyal Gallery in Sweden, Sargent’s Daughters in New York, Wilding Cran Gallery in LA, SWIM gallery in San Francisco, WIP Gallery in Beirut, and the Torrence Museum of Art; and featured in Autre, Art & Cake LA, and Artinfo amongst other publications.
Meet the Curator
Sophia Penske
Sophia Penske did the requisite work to embark a traditional career in the art world, but an innate proclivity to approach the world in a different way always precluded a path to an eponymous gallery. The 26-year old California native branched off on her own in 2019 after several intensive years in New York City working at Di Donna Gallery and with private dealer Michael Altman. First on the docket under the Penske Projects banner, Sophia curated the inaugural art collection at the Beverly Hills outpost of New York’s Spring Place social club and workspace. Later last year, Penske Projects presented a pop up gallery in East Hollywood with artists Greg Ito and Honor Titus. Since day one on her own, she has advised clients in Chicago, Los Angeles and the Bahamas. Penske started working at the age of 14 at Teen Vogue in New York and voraciously accrued internships in finance, music, and art before focusing on Art History and pre-law at Cornell University. While Penske Projects finds, explores and develops young talent, Penske is also etching a new art business structure as she builds careers for a few key artists in addition to her curation and advising.
Founded in 2002 in New York City, Voltz Clarke Gallery maintains a roster of emerging and mid career artists focusing on introducing international artists to the New York and wider US market. Founder Blair Clarke believes one should cast the net wide in order to identify new talent. In a market, which is increasingly globalized, she is intrigued by the rich diversity in work found often in unexpected places. Clarke’s experience combines over eighteen years of East coast gallery associations and curatorial projects. In 2015, after thirty years of experience at Christie’s and Sotheby’s auction houses, Alistair Clarke joined the gallery as President.