Modern & Contemporary Art Exhibitions in Boston

Government Please, mixed media on perforated aluminum repurposed fencing strips, 18×18 inches Artist Statement I have always been uncomfortable naming my show and my work. This show is called Native Pollinators because as I went through the process of working on these pieces, it started to remind me of my garden...

At What Cost sheds light on the material expenses behind creative production. Centering zines and ephemera works, this national exhibition will act as a testament to the desire for connection and information sharing in the face of rising costs of living. This small group exhibition juried by Andy Chan aims to elevate this accessible medium to greater appreciation by highlighting unseen labor, resources and methods of production, such as the woodblocks, linocut and speedblocks utilized to hold stories. Galley 263 invites zine and ephemera artists from across the country to submit work in consideration for this intimate group exhibition. We welcome finished pieces crafted from feeling and the physical material that helped make those feelings legible, from sketches and test prints to diary entries or archival content. Any zine or ephemera work such as booklets, flyers and comics are eligible for review, provided they were produced within the last three years. Together, we hope to bridge the gap between the process of making and the final product.

For me, painting is not a means of illustrating an idea but a way of discovering one. I approach abstraction not as the absence of representation but as a means of expanding it—allowing emotion, memory, and imagination to exist simultaneously. Images only emerge through a process of accumulation, erasure, and response, where each mark suggests the next. I am very interested in the way memory functions as fragmented, layered, and constantly reconstructed. Familiar shapes appear like half-remembered forms or fleeting thoughts that dissolve into gestures and color. Color functions as both structure and emotion. Black lines alternately define, interrupt, and destabilize, creating tension between containment and release. The finished work remains open-ended: a visual conversation between order and improvisation, memory and invention, structure and chance.

"Messages from the Marsh" is a work in progress for an immersive experience featuring video projections, sound art, and mapping. The project showcases marsh locations along the US East Coast that are projected to be underwater on a daily basis by 2050 due to sea level rise, tides, and storm surge. Videos highlight the unique otherworldly beauty of these locations, both above and below the waterline, with environmental elements playing a significant role in co-producing the videos. This segment highlights restored salt marshes in Massachusetts that are beginning to recover after centuries of agricultural ditching and other human interventions. By documenting these sites in transition, I explore the fragile and ever-shifting boundary between land and sea while offering a vision of ecological resilience. The work examines both the consequences of environmental degradation and the possibilities for healing through restoration efforts designed to help marsh ecosystems adapt to a changing climate. Supported by research, the fuller project aims to raise awareness about the potential impact of coastal marsh loss on the ecosystem. It emphasizes the importance of marshes as transitional barrier spaces, rich migratory habitats, and carbon capture systems. Additionally, it focuses on preservation, restoration, and management efforts. The work involves sitespecific research, video documentation, and in-person engagement. Videos shown reflect on immersion of spaces inhabited, spaces transformed, and spaces potentially lost. The water’s skin, the separation of the realms of water and air, are explored through underwater and over water imaging with a GoPro and camera drone. Each piece works in relationship with each other to suggest a fuller, interconnected and dynamic rhythm with resonant impact across their spaces. Funded in part by the Kathleen Van Demark Fund for Great Marsh Artists, administered through the Manship Artists Residency with support from Artists for the Great Marsh. Access to restoration sites within The Great Marsh was generously provided by The Trustees. Enormous thanks and research acknowledgments: Climate Central, Mass Audubon, North and South Rivers Watershed Association, The Trustees of Reservations, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Essex County Greenbelt Association.