Outer Boro Blues (40°41’56.04” N, 73°56’40.38” W)
Bio:
Joan Reutershan makes boldly colored collage and assemblage paintings, taking cues from the cacophonous Brooklyn streets she traverses every day. Her urban themes are the contemporary tensions between chaos and design, digitality and materiality, and sense and nonsense. She received her BFA summa cum laude from Hunter College, City University of New York, where she was a Kossak Painting Fellow. She earned an MA Degree in Art History, also from Hunter College.
Reutershan is represented by Office Space Gallery SLC, and her work was featured with the OSG SLC at Art Fair 14C in Jersey City in 2022 and 2021. Recent solo exhibitions include BKNY Street View at One River School of Art and Design (Woodbury, NY), with a redux at the Mariboe Gallery/ Swig Arts Center (Hightstown, NJ). Prior one-person venues include the Florida School of the Arts Main Gallery (Palatka, FL), and Gallery Three at A.R.T. New York (Brooklyn, NY). She frequently exhibits in group shows--The Box Factory Gallery (Bushwick/Ridgewood, NY), 550 Gallery (Long Island City, NY), and online with Artsy through Odetta Digital Gallery/ Shim Art Network. Reutershan lives in Brooklyn and works in Long Island City, NY.
Blingy Stroll in the Urban Forest
Statement:
My cityscape paintings present with snarky fluorescent color and fragmented urban iconography. Each collage painting begins with an overall silver silkscreen pattern, which I associate with the seductive intrusion of the internet on the contemporary landscape and psyche. Acrylic paint, found objects and glittery down-market plastics fight back with their insistent materiality. Collage and assemblage objects extend my work out from the surface into low relief, and off the stretched canvas onto the wall. My cityscape imagery eschews the vertical plane, and draws from the street and sidewalk—from graffiti, connective urban design, and detritus. Visual references range from high modernism to comic books and memes. I admire painters who elevate the quotidian, from the Dadaists to Rauschenberg, Elizabeth Murray and Amy Sillman.
Making art is a form of epistemology for me, it is a way I explore the 21st Century urban environment--our edgy cauldron of discrepancies, contradictions, but also of transformation. If the downtown sky is colonized by big real estate, “on the ground” there is plenty of alternative world building in which I actively participate, and which I consider research for my art work. The wacky, energetic jumble of my painting queers the urban landscape, not by depicting scenes of lifestyle or identity, but by bursting the conventions of cityscape structure (stacked ground, architecture and sky planes) and replacing them with a baffling mixed-media assemblage.
Lepisma Saccharina or Urban Silverfish (40°44'56.0"N, 73°56'41.5"W)
CV:
Art Education
2017 BFA in Studio Art summa cum laude, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY
2014 MA in Art History, Hunter College, CUNY, New York, NY
Thesis: Richard Diebenkorn and Current Conversations on Abstract Painting
Representation
Office Space Gallery, Salt Lake City, Utah. https://www.officespaceslc.com
Artist Interview
2022 Emerging Artists Collective, Interview—Joan Reutershan (August 2022)
https://www.emergingartistscollective.com/post/interview-joan-reutershan
Installation
2022 Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, NY, Marked! Oppose the Removal of Tree Canopy in Fort Greene Park! (55 trees designated to be removed tagged with
fluorescent streamers for Friends of Fort Greene Park), Brooklyn, NY
Solo Exhibitions
2021 9D (@studioninedee), HighLowCrowGo!, curated by Karen Rosenkrantz, New York, NY
2020 Mariboe Gallery at Swig Arts Center, BKNY Street View Redux, curated by Joyce Chen, Hightstown, NJ
2020 Gallery at One River School of Art and Design, BKNY Street View, curated by Cassandra Basile, Woodbury, LI, NY
2011 Main Gallery at Port Washington Public Library, Peripheral Vision: New York City Paintings, Port Washington, NY
2010 Grace Institute Gallery, Vertical Terrain: New York City Paintings, New York, NY
2009 Florida School of the Arts Main Gallery, New York at Eye Level: Paintings and Photographs, Palatka, FL
2008 Watchung Arts Center, Chromatic New York, Watchung, NJ
2007 Art at First, Adjacencies: Cityscapes of Brooklyn and Manhattan, New York, NY
2005 Gallery Three at A.R.T. New York, Arrangements: Paintings of Brooklyn and Manhattan, Brooklyn, NY
Three-Person Exhibition
2021 5-50 Gallery, MaterialX, with Lauren Packard and Qinza Nahm, curated by Hilary Doyle and Catherine Haggarty, Long Island City, NY
Group Exhibitions
2023 Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, Visions, curated by Tina Cornely, Danville, VA (forthcoming)
2022 The Jersey City Armory, Office Space Gallery SLC, at Art Fair 14C, 4th Edition, curated by Albert Abdul-Barr Wang and Bryce Chatwin, Jersey City, NJ
Box Factory Gallery, Omen Amen, curated by Kiera Stuart, Ridgewood, Queens, NY
Fayette Street Space, Bushwick Street Art NYC, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
Culture Lab LIC, A Queens Spring Art Affair, Long Island City, NY
Odetta Digital Gallery, Serious Play (Summer 2022) Spinning Plates (Winter 2022), Flow (Fall 2021), Refresh (Summer 2021) curated by Ellen Hackl
Fagan, on Artsy.net with SHIM Art Network https://www.artsy.net/show/shim-art-network-odetta-digital
Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, Byrdcliffe Artists in Residence 2021, Woodstock, NY
Art at First, Creatives Create, New York, NY
2021 The Glass Gallery at Mana Contemporary, Feminist Praxis, Office Space Gallery SLC at Art Fair 14C, curated by Albert Abdul-Barr Wang and Bryce
Chatwin, Jersey City, NJ
Odetta Digital Gallery, Page Turner (Spring 2021), Refresh (Summer 2021), Flow (Fall 2021) curated by Ellen Hackl Fagan, on Artsy.net with SHIM Art
Network https://www.artsy.net/show/shim-art-network-odetta-digital
Long Island City Artists Association, Drawings in a Time of Renewal, LIC-A’s 2nd Annual Drawing Exhibition, curated by Carol Crawford & Jorge
Posada, Drawing Room 2, Mixed-Media Drawing https://www.licartists.org/drawing-show-2021
Dodumu Gallery (online) Color Field: Green https://www.dodomugallery.com/exhibitions/color-field-green
2020 SHRINE Gallery, Group Show Open Call online exhibition Room 5, NY, NY
https://www.shrine.nyc/group-show-5 (Joan Reutershan Slide 6)
2019 Gallery Cubed, Under the Magnifying Glass, curated by Claudia Bitran, Brooklyn, NY
2018 Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, Relief: Byrdcliffe Artists in Residence 2018, curated by James Adelman and Oscar Buitrago, Woodstock, NY
2018 Sideshow Gallery, Slideshow Nation VI: The Greatest Show on Earth! Brooklyn, NY
2017 Leubsdorf Gallery, Hunter College BFA Degree Exhibition, curated by Carrie Moyer, New York, NY
2016 International Print Center, Printfest, New York, NY
Art Gallery at St. Joseph’s College, “Plus Ca Change,” curated by Maribeth Flynn, Brooklyn, NY
2015 Sideshow Gallery, Sideshow Nation III: Thru the Rabbit Hole!!!, Brooklyn, NY
2014 Sideshow Gallery, Sideshow Nation II: At the Alamo, Brooklyn, NY
2013 City Without Walls [cWOW] Gallery, Diptych, Triptych and Multiples, curated by Shira Toren, Newark, NJ
Chashama Midtown Gallery, chaNorth 2012 Residency Alumni Exhibition, New York, NY
2012 The Painting Center, Natural/Constructed Spaces, curated by Galen Cheney and Marianne Van Lent, New York, NY
Art Gallery at St. Joseph’s College, Prelude Exhibition, curated by Wendy Burke, Brooklyn, NY
TRA Gallery, The Color Blue, Brooklyn, NY
Fountain Art Fair New York, Hullabaloo Collective, New York, NY
Art Gallery at St.Joseph’s College, There’s a Story Here, curated by Stacey Temple, Brooklyn, NY
Jadite Gallery, Groupshow, curated by Jorge Valdez, New York, NY
Sideshow Gallery, MIC: CHECK, Brooklyn, NY
2011 Ernest Rubenstein Gallery, The Urban Situation, curated by John Baber, New York, NY
Tillies of Brooklyn Art Gallery, A Sense of Place, curated by Doug Madill,Brooklyn, NY
TRA Gallery, Represent Brooklyn, curated by Kennis Baptiste, Brooklyn, NY
2010 Gallery 61, New York Institute of Technology, Urbanessence, curated by Jennifer Mitchell, New York, NY
South Oxford Space Garden Gallery, Genius Loci, curated by
Maribeth Flynn, Brooklyn, NY
2009 TRA Gallery / Classon Walls, Summer at Sonya, Brooklyn, NY
Crane Street Studios, New York Armory Arts Week at Crane Street Studios, Long Island City, NY
2008 Gallery of Tower 49, Spring Group Show, New York, NY
SS Lilac Gallery at Pier 40, From the Lilac, New York, NY
2007-08 CB Richard Ellis at 140 Broadway, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council-
CBRE Downtown Cityscape Exhibit, New York, NY
2007 Flinn Gallery, Emerging Artists, Greenwich, CT
Eleven-Ten Gallery, Gallery Stroll Preview Show, Brooklyn, NY
Art at First, New York, NY: Visions of the City, New York, NY
2006 Brooklyn Arts Council, Third Wave--Brooklyn in Transition, Brooklyn, NY
CB Richard Ellis at 140 Broadway, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council-
CBRE Downtown Cityscape Exhibit, New York, NY
Gallery 6, Gateway National Park, A Primary Exhibition, Queens, NY
2005 Eleven-Ten Gallery, Small Works Winter Show, Brooklyn, NY
Simon Liu Gallery, Brooklyn Reborn, Brooklyn, NY
Gallery 402, The Great Outdoors: A Summer Show, New York, NY
Eleven-Ten Gallery, SONYA Stroll Preview Show, Brooklyn, NY
Cork Gallery, Lincoln Center, Annual ASL Awards Show, New York, NY
2004 Brooklyn Waterfront Artist’s Coalition, Solo Show, Brooklyn, NY
Collections
Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY: Paintings #28 and #29 in Remarked Upon Book by Robin Ross
Grace Institute, New York, NY
Private Collections in the US and Germany
Awards/ Grants/ Residencies
2021 Byrdcliffe Art Colony, Woodstock, NY, Artist Residency
2020 Guest Artist, Mariboe Art Gallery, Hightstown, NJ
2019 Vermont Studio Center Full Fellowship, Johnson, VT, Artist Residency
2019 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, Amherst, VA, Artist Residency
2018 Byrdcliffe Art Colony, Woodstock, NY, Artist Residency
2017 Departmental Honors in Fine Arts, Hunter College Department of Art and Art History, New York, NY
2017 Presidential Graduation Award, Hunter College, New York, NY
2015-2017 Kossak Painting Fellow, Hunter College Department of Art and Art History, New York, NY
2012 chaNorth at Spruce Farm, Pine Plains, NY, Artist Residency
2009 Oberpfaelzer Kuenstlerhaus, Schwandorf, Germany, Artist Residency
2007, 2005 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, Artist Residency
2005 Award of Excellence, Manhattan Arts International Small Works Competition
2003 Marchutz School Fellowship, Aix-en-Provence, France
Bibliography
2021 Preparing for Open Studios at Byrdcliffe in Woodstock, Daily Freeman, Kingston NY, July 13, 2021, updated July 24, 2021.
https://www.dailyfreeman.com/2021/07/13/photos-preparing-for-open-studios-at-byrdcliffe-in-woodstock/
2020 Solo Exhibition at Woodbury Gallery, Syosset Advance (Garden City, NY), February 26, 2020.
https://www.syossetadvance.com/articles/solo-exhibition-at-woodbury-gallery/
2019 Adelman, James and Oscar Buitrago, introduction to RELIEF: Byrdcliffe Artists-in-Residence 2018, exhibition catalog, April-May, images p16.
2017 Beattie, Drew, catalog essay for Concurrency, Hunter College BFA Degree Exhibition, City University of New York, exhibition catalog, May-June 2017, np.
2013 Bischoff, Dan, Over and Over: Review of Diptych, Triptych and Multiples at cWOW Gallery, The Sunday Star-Ledger (Newark), NJ, March 10, 2013,
Section IV, 6.
#166: Flatbush Ave/ Bergen St (Brooklyn), oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in., 2008,reproduced in Roth, Robert and Carletta Joy Walker, eds And Then, Vol. 17,
2013, 85.
2011 AAC Welcomes Joan Reutershan, The Port Washington Public Library, No. 270, October 2011
Horner, James, A Diverse Look at Urban Life: Review of “The Urban
Situation,’ Ernest Rubenstein Gallery at the Educational Alliance, Manhattan Fine Arts Examiner, February 21
2009 Biederer, Franziska, Stadt der vielen Pasteltone, Die Rundschau Schwandorf, August 2
Poscharsky-Ziegler, Anastasia, New Yorker Wolkenkratzer in der Oberpfalz, Der Neue Tag, July 25
2008 Doane, Naomi, ed., ‘“Evening Reflections” by Joan Reutershan,’ cover image, Fort Greene Newsletter, November
2007 “Emerging Artists” Closes Flinn’s Season, Greenwich Citizen, May 4
2006 Harvey, Phillip, Profile: Third Wave Artists in their own Words, Nat Creole Magazine, No3, Nov/Dec
BAC Gallery Presents Third Wave: The Planet of Brooklyn Transitions, October
Hartenstein, S., A Sneak Peek into an Urban Landscape, The Wave, Feb 17
Curatorial and Art Writing
2013 Co-curated with William C. Agee et al., Sanford Wurmfeld: Color Visions 1966-2013, Hunter College Times Square Gallery, New York, NY, 2013
Catalog essay “From Gravity to Levity: Sanford Wurmfeld’s Recent Watercolor Paintings” in Sanford Wurmfeld: Color Visions 1966-2013, exhibition
catalog (New York: Hunter College Times Square Gallery, 2013), 124-130.
Memberships
NYC Crit Club; Long Island City Artists Association; College Art Association; Robert Blackburn Print Studio
Additional Works:
