Heskin Projects was selected again to be the curators for the 2024-2025 season at 1GAP Gallery.

SATURATED: Loren Munk, Julie Peppito, Giordanne Salley, Jack Arthur Wood and Christina Zimpel

September 11, 2024- January 6, 2025- 1 Gap Gallery, One Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238

Curated by Heskin Projects: Elizabeth Heskin, Tracey Ravdin Perlmutter and Patricia Spergel

 “Saturated” is a word with many meanings. In the general, non-visual sense, it can be defined as “filled to capacity; having absorbed all that can be taken up; unable to hold or contain more.” But in the visual arts, particularly photography, saturation refers to the intensity of a color. The higher the saturation, the more vivid the image is, the lower the saturation of a color, the closer it is to gray.  In today’s world, one can feel inundated and saturated by too much news, too much noise, too much stimulation.  The five artists in this exhibition play with density of forms, colors and materials- these works are the antithesis of minimal; one could say that many of these works lean towards “horror vacui”, a Latin phrase describing a fear of, or aversion to, empty space. The complexity and richness on display in these paintings creates a positive and vivid pulsing awareness—the visual equivalent of a shot of caffeine or adrenaline to engage the mind and the soul. 

SATURATED will be on view at 1GAP Gallery through 1/6/25.  The gallery is located at 1 Grand Army Plaza, across the street from the Brooklyn Library, a few short blocks from the Brooklyn Art Museum, and easily accessible by subway. For further information, please email: Eheskin@gmail.com 

The Thing Is: paintings by Xico Greenwald, Tracy Miller and Mary Jo Vath

May 9 – August 26, 2024—1 Gap Gallery, One Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Curated by Heskin Projects: Elizabeth Heskin, Tracey Ravdin Perlmutter and Patricia Spergel

Xico Greenwald, Tracy Miller and Mary Jo Vath

While each of these three artists could be classified as still life painters, there is nothing still or traditional in their work. Whether through subject matter, scale or energy of paint application, these painters each add a personal imprint to the genre. Still life painting is often a means to an end. Giorgio Morandi was painting dusty bottles and their relationship to each other and the space, but his paintings were about so much more- transcendent light, dusty color, melancholy evinced by the tilt of a jug handle or the dip of a vase top.

Please contact Elizabeth Heskin at eheskin@gmail.com to schedule an appointment or for further information.

PLAYLIST, Emily Berger, Steve DeFrank, Erik den Breejen, and Jenifer Kobylarz

January 25 – April 30, 2024-1 Gap Gallery, One Grand Arm Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238

Curated by Heskin Projects: Elizabeth Heskin, Tracey Ravdin Perlmutter and Patricia Spergel 

Emily Berger, Steve DeFrank, Erik den Breejen and Jenifer Kobylarz

We titled this show PLAYLIST because each of the painters presented here incorporates into their work an element of playfulness, rhythm and experimentation within a theme. We are also alluding to the idea of making playlists on streaming musical platforms—the 21st century digital equivalent of making a mixed tape, albeit with more infinite possibilities. Music and art are intrinsically linked. To cite just two examples, Kandinsky wrote extensively about this connection in his 1912 treatise Concerning the Spiritual in Art and Mondrian’s masterpiece “Broadway Boogie-Woogie” was clearly influenced by jazz and the blues. Listening to music in the studio is a way for an artist to connect to their innermost thoughts and to help tune out the world around them, and while there is not always a direct causal link between the music an artist listens to and the work they make, learning what they like does provide an added layer of understanding for the viewer. We asked each painter to create a playlist of favorite music for this show and some teasers follow.

Please contact Elizabeth Heskin at eheskin@gmail.com to schedule an appointment or for further information. Photo Credit: Adrian Wilson @interiorphotography

Night Light/Day Light, paintings by Nick Benfey, Elizabeth Hazan and Eric Hibit

May 11- August 28, 2023—1 Gap Gallery, One Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Curated by Heskin Projects: Elizabeth Heskin, Tracey Ravdin Perlmutter and Patricia Spergel

Nick Benfey, Elizabeth Hazan and Eric Hibit

All artists are deeply attuned to the world around them. As three painters working in Brooklyn, it is impossible for Benfey, Hazan and Hibit not to be affected by the changing seasons and the abundance and/or scarcity of light that accompanies these changes. They each approach the natural and manmade worlds by mindfully using pigments and mediums to create paintings imbued with very specific light, time and place.  The painter Richard Diebenkorn once observed that "Non-painters often say, 'What a lovely light there,’ but I myself don’t see it. My own approach is very different. I see the light only at the end of working on a painting. I mean, I discover the light of a place gradually, and only through painting it." 

Please contact Elizabeth Heskin at eheskin@gmail.com to schedule an appointment or for further information.

Tell Me A Story, paintings by Mary DeVincentis, Barbara Friedman, Scherezade Garcia, KellyAnne Hanrahan, JoAnne McFarland, Avery Z. Nelson & Jackie Shatz

January 19- May 1, 2023—1 Gap Gallery, One Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Curated by Heskin Projects: Elizabeth Heskin, Tracey Ravdin Perlmutter and Patricia Spergel

Mary DeVincentis, Barbara Friedman, Scherezade Garcia, KellyAnne Hanrahan, JoAnne McFarland, Avery Z. Nelson & Jackie Shatz

Storytelling is a primal instinct and one that has stood the test of time.  We all have memories of listening to bedtime stories, hearing ghost tales around a campfire, or learning the oral tradition of our family or religion.  Visual storytelling is a rich and well-defined genre throughout art history and one that has seen a resurgence in the past several years as artists grapple with how to make sense of the crazy world in which we live.   

It was pure joy visiting each of these seven artists to select work for “Tell Me A Story”.  Their communicative skills and ability to weave storytelling into their work is eclipsed only by their incredible talent to take these ideas and present them in two and three dimensional forms. And while each art work hints at an underlying narrative, and some of the titles give us clues along the way, none are so obvious that they don’t allow room for the viewer’s interpretation.  For as the philosopher Hannah Arendt succinctly put it: “Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.”

Please contact Elizabeth Heskin at eheskin@gmail.com to schedule an appointment or for further information.

PLUSH: Paintings by Judith Simonian 2010–22

September 29, 2022–January 9, 2023. —1 Gap Gallery, One Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Curated by Heskin Projects: Elizabeth Heskin, Tracey Ravdin Perlmutter and Patricia Spergel

These narrative works are imbued with a mysterious shifting of perspective and a change of scale and pace that is echoed by the materiality of the paint—some areas are quickly brushed in, while others include precise linear details. Simonian’s work appeals to all of our senses; we can almost taste, touch and smell the air vibrating or the water sparkling. There is a hint of optimism suggesting that by carefully looking inside ourselves and out into the world beyond, we can find a way to travel to a more enchanted and magical universe.

Judith Simonian was born in Los Angeles, CA where she received an MA and BA from California State University, Northridge. She began her career during the emerging 1980s downtown Los Angeles art scene before moving to New York City in 1985.