Fragments of Light at Adjacent to Life

Adjacent To Life, presents Fragments of Light by Sandy Van Iderstine.

Leon Brown writes:

Sandy Van Iderstine brings us her most recent collection. Created in her New York and Toronto studios, these paintings represent 2024 and 2025 to date.

The genesis of these works can be found in palette shavings retrieved from the painting process. Van Iderstine collects, archives and considers these palette skins.

This studio ephemera – these relics of creative activity - are then revivified as the material basis for her new paintings. They serve as both starting point and through line for the delectation of painting as a cumulative endeavor and the natural world as the undergirding source of sustenance.

The artist states, “My work invites the viewer to explore a unique interplay of shapes, colours, transparencies and textures to create a dynamic and engaging visual experience.”

These paintings invite us into spaces far bigger than the form in which they are contained. Van Iderstine’s attention to detail - every square inch is meditated upon in order to illuminate the whole – eschews artifacts, providing us with an immersive adventure, peering through flora and circumnavigating clouds on a wave of iridescence.

With precision and natural depth Van Iderstine provokes thoughts of Constable and Turner, up close and candid.

Fragments of Light is on view through May 16, 2025 at the Adjacent To Life gallery housed in Ninth Street Espresso (341 E. 10th Street at Ave B, New York City). Artist's reception: Saturday, April 19, 7:00 - 9:00 pm.

Groves: wrack_#112

Groves: sanno_#229

Groves: che_#228

Groves: color_#227

Groves: crackling_#111

March's Acrylic Palettes

Groves: di_#110

Flesh, Bone & Stardust at Adjacent to Life

Adjacent To Life, presents Flesh, Bone & Stardust by Nadia Lubrano.

Artist's Statement:

Flesh, Bone & Stardust explores the ephemeral nature of existence, the delicate equilibrium between light and dark, and the ever-thinning veil between life and death, waking consciousness and the astral realm. Each piece is a portal - an invitation to journey beyond the physical and into the realms of the subconscious, the spiritual, and the infinite unknown.

For as long as I can remember, art has been my sanctuary, my mirror, and my voice. Anytime I’ve felt silenced, alone, or simply unable to express myself verbally, I’ve turned to my canvas. It is the one place that my inner child can be completely free, intuitively expressing themselves without inhibition.

I rarely see myself as the creator, but rather as the vessel through which creativity flows. My hands move, but the energy that guides them is something much older and wiser, something woven into the very fabric of existence. Painting is my way of communing with that energy—of translating my meditative visions, fleeting dreams, and whispered messages from the unseen into something tangible.

At the core of my work, there is also an exploration of our intrinsic connection to the earth and the spirit of Mother Nature. Her cycles, her mysteries, and her wisdom breathe through each line and color, reminding us that we are not separate from her, but always a part of her grand, ever-evolving design. Symbols emerge—organic, fluid, and often subconscious—telling stories of transformation, duality, and the delicate dance between chaos and harmony.

Visually, my art balances the sacred and the surreal, the intricate and the spontaneous. I incorporate elements that feel both esoteric and deeply human, from cosmic spirals to skeletal figures, from luminous celestial symbols to playful nods at the absurdity of existence. Each piece is a meditation, a spell, a message waiting to be deciphered.

Ultimately, my paintings are not meant to be understood in a linear sense but to be felt. They are offerings to those who, like me, seek to peer beyond the surface—to embrace the beautiful impermanence of it all, to dance in the liminal space between worlds, and to recognize the infinite within themselves.

Flesh, Bone & Stardust is on view through April 18, 2025 at the Adjacent To Life gallery housed in Ninth Street Espresso (341 E. 10th Street at Ave B, New York City). Artist's reception: Saturday, March 22, 7:00 - 9:00 pm.

Groves: adiaphane_#109

Groves: crush_#108

February's Acrylic Palettes

Insidious Raft at Adjacent to Life

Adjacent To Life, presents Insidious Raft by Lars van Dooren.

Insidious Raft is on view through March 21, 2025 at the Adjacent To Life gallery housed in Ninth Street Espresso (341 E. 10th Street at Ave B, New York City). Artist's reception: Saturday, February 22, 7:00 - 9:00 pm.

Groves: maestro_#107

Groves: millionaire_#106

Groves: bald_#105

Pop Stoppage: easy_#424

Pop Stoppages 2014-25

Pop Stoppage: sconce_#423

Analog Augmented Reality, 2013 - 25

My exploration of Augmented Reality generated an analog series of collages that utilize similar principles in terms of formal composition. Employing an image of a sculpture as if it were an AR marker, I cut out the shape and slid in its place an alternate image – generally an inkjet proof of a painting or some other piece of 2D studio ephemera. (All of these materials are studio detritus, so there is an element of aesthetic upcycling, as well.)

The visual result is a masked painting that sits in a sculptural space. The painting element of the collage achieves pictorial depth by appearing to exist in the round.

Considered in the vernacular of Augmented Reality, this particular collage strategy represents a bit of conjecture about the functioning of perception. The image that is inserted into an Augmented Reality context exists only in the viewer’s device – their cell phone or tablet.

Metaphorically, I see this device as akin to consciousness or the perceptual apparatus through which one makes sense of the world. In this analogy, the AR overlay might be a scrim of prior experience/expectation that modifies perception. This idea of acknowledging pre-loaded content into image-making also finds expression in my use of magazine pages as a support for painting. Instead of using fresh white paper or canvas – which might imply perfection, or that the image arises out of the void – I frequently use a ground that already supports an image – a populated tabula rasa – to make the point that an image and the perception of an image are conditional and cumulative.

Tumbleweeds, 2017 - 25

Tumbleweeds 2013 - 2017 viewable here.

Groves: knocking_#104

January's Acrylic Palettes

Groves: adds_#226

Groves: visible_#225

Groves: modality_#224

Groves: ineluctable_#223

Goodbye Stranger at Adjacent to Life

Adjacent To Life, presents Goodbye Stanger by dayaboti.

Artist's Statement:

The Goodbye Stranger series explores the anonymity and stories of people living in big cities.

Using black and white photography, I strip away the city’s noise, allowing us to focus on silhouettes and shadows, highlighting the timeless nature of solitude in the city.

The inspiration for this project came from my podcast, Goodbye Stranger, where I engage in conversations with people I meet around the city. What is it that they’ve learned through their experiences?

These discussions often reveal feelings of loneliness and isolation common in urban environments, inspiring me to visually explore these themes.

The nine photographs in this series are captured digitally and presented as 11” x 14” prints.

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Goodbye Stranger is on view through February 21, 2025 at the Adjacent To Life gallery housed in Ninth Street Espresso (341 E. 10th Street at Ave B, New York City). Artist's reception: Saturday, January 25, 7:00 - 9:00 pm.

Tumbleweeds: diaphane_#312

Tumbleweeds: limits_#311