Riverside Gallery presents the Pattern & Oscillation Group Exhibition, from March 8 to 23, 2024, with an opening reception on the 9th from 4 to 6 pm. The featured artists are Jay Chung, Ruth Bauer Neustadter, Joyce Pommer, and Paula Schiller.

The exhibition is a small survey of the tendency of abstract and abstracted art towards repetition and pattern, which could also be read as oscillation of a wave, in terms of its up's and down's. In the exhibition, the paintings and sculptures made of stripes of color, as well as their variations manifesting as patterns and repeating abstract shapes, provide an inner sanctuary for the viewer's mind, translating the visual experience of patterns and oscillations into a meditative moments of harmony. Everything, including the mind, is energy, which in turn is a form of wave and vibration, according to physics and eastern philosophy and religion.

Historical artists who relate to this exhibition include Agnes Martin, Barnett Newman, and Frank Stella. Agnes Martin captured the experience of light, in the way light is scattered as it travels through space and how we perceive it; she considered herself an Abstract Expressionist - in particular a Color Field and Minimalist painter. Similarly, Barnett Newman represented the presence of individuals as abstract disruptions on the canvas, in the form of vertical lines that he called “zip”s. Barnett Newman was also a part of the Color Field movement that opposed the tendencies of Gestural Abstraction (which included artists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning and comprised the other arm of the Abstract Expressionism).

The artists found in this survey continue the legacy of stripe paintings, including Jay Chung with his enamel and epoxy resin paintings that exhibit energy, vibrancy and translucency of colors. Also, Ruth Bauer Neustadter also utilizes clearly defined stripes with her woven fiber sculptures that suggest both the figurative presence and the appearance or the aura of spirituality based in shamanism or primitive cultures. On the other hand, Joyce Pommer and Paula Schiller retain a more painterly approach; Joyce Pommer explores the decorative direction with floral patterns and other natural forms that appear to be latched ontop of abstract compositions reminiscent of landscape, while Paula Schiller paints repeating patterns reminiscent of the Gestural Abstraction of the Abstract Expressionism, forming abstract landscapes.

About the Artists:

Jay Chung

Jay Chung is a Korean American artist who makes vibrant visuals of transparencies and colors using enamel paint and epoxy on resin.

Chung received his BA in Graphic Design from the ChungAng University in 1979 and attended the Seoul National University Graduate School to study Graphic Design. He then came to America and received his M.A.’s in Communication Design and Computer Graphic from the Pratt Institute in 1984 and 1995, respectively. He has exhibited at the Myungdong Int’l Art Festival in Seoul, Korea, and had a solo exhibition at the Art Expo New York in 2019. He also exhibited at the Galleria Larkina in Venice, Italy, and the Riverside Gallery.Ruth Bauer Neustadter

Joyce Pommer

Joyce Pommer studied at the Art Students League (NYC), Art Institute of Boston (Boston, MA), and Academy of Art (San Francisco, CA).

“My paintings evolve out of my subconscious in a free flowing intuitive process - I do not start with a preconceived idea or plan – the art is my reflection. The work I create makes people feel good & instills positive emotions and harmony, along with a curiosity. My work frees the mind and spirit; inspired by the early Abstract Expressionists I seek the emotion and spirit of the painting by way of the unconscious and spiritual…”

Ruth Bauer Neustadter

Ruth Bauer Neustadter makes a wide range of works from portraits to compositions via assemblage - all unified by her abstract style and vision. Delving into her spirituality and the world of abstract ideas and emotions like Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint, Neustadter utilizes raw, expressive colors and experimental, aggressive juxtaposition of forms and (found object) materials to create spaces on the canvas, where new meanings and interpretations are forged by the viewer.

Neustadter’s paintings often carry the raw primitive and the folk-like qualities and energies that somehow approach the Neo-Expressionist style of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anselm Kiefer, and Georg Baselitz. There must be a performative aspect to her painting process that is hidden from view or the obvious, as Baselitz also painted his works upside down in order to “invert” the image of the figure to disorient the viewer into seeing in new ways. The fact that dance has been an important part of Neustadter’s life and career contributes to the necessity of reading her paintings in this light. 

Paula Schiller

Having received her BA in English, Paula Schiller began taking art classes at the Brooklyn Museum Art School and continued her studies at the National Academy of Design, The Art Students League of NY, and the Art Center of Northern NJ. She went on to win awards such as the First Prize at the ACNNJ Juried Show in 2016 and the First Prize at the Bergen County Juried Show in 2013. Schiller abstracts the landscape in a lyrical or poetic way, with nature and water being a repeated theme that connects the artist to her early experiences and memories. Schiller’s styles range from complete abstraction to impressionistic representations of the world, as she seeks to evoke a mood or the essential character of the place rather than a literal depiction.