[HUMAN/NATURE]
The show brings together six artists exploring the shifting boundary between body, world, and imagination. From grief and absurdity to rebirth and belonging, each work reveals something vital about what it feels like to be alive.
Opening: Nov 1 - 2025
50 Arrow Gallery, East Hampton, MA, USA.
The show brings together six artists exploring the shifting boundary between body, world, and imagination. From grief and absurdity to rebirth and belonging, each work reveals something vital about what it feels like to be alive.
Opening: Nov 1 - 2025
50 Arrow Gallery, East Hampton, MA, USA.
The exhibition is titled “ÆMPIRE AGAIN\” and examines the ignored undercurrents that haunt the studios of every artist working in America. By exploring the hidden dynamics of power and control in contemporary art, I hope to delve into a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of the artistic process and its surrounding environment. The title itself, with its blend of classical and modern connotations, suggests a deep exploration of the structures that influence and, at times, constrain artists.
The exhibition title, ÆMPIRE\ (“a empire”), is intentionally grammatically incorrect—a strategic error to announce dominion with a disregard for the soft rules that maintain civility and intellectual standards. “A” rather than “An” assures the reader that leaders of an Empire abide by no rules, especially the rules of language. Wrong but legible, confident in its presence. An improper “A+E” ligature elaborates this transgression. This erroneous use of an antiquated symbol under the guise of sophistication, Æ, is often misused in contemporary design, usually for stylish reasons. The symbol Æ is also known as “ash.” There is a grim poetic to beginning an Empire with “ash,” possibly foreshadowing the literal falling ash as it quietly punctuates a catastrophic collapse. The exhibition title ends with an arbitrary backslash, successfully offering an illusion of symmetry and order. A symbol robbed of its meaning and repurposed for aesthetics. The backslash functions to separate descending computer files, placing ÆMPIRE\ at the top of an informational hierarchy.
Hartford Artspace Gallery
Friday 10/10
6-9 PM
PARKING AT UNION STATION (train station across street from artspace)
The exhibition title, ÆMPIRE\ (“a empire”), is intentionally grammatically incorrect—a strategic error to announce dominion with a disregard for the soft rules that maintain civility and intellectual standards. “A” rather than “An” assures the reader that leaders of an Empire abide by no rules, especially the rules of language. Wrong but legible, confident in its presence. An improper “A+E” ligature elaborates this transgression. This erroneous use of an antiquated symbol under the guise of sophistication, Æ, is often misused in contemporary design, usually for stylish reasons. The symbol Æ is also known as “ash.” There is a grim poetic to beginning an Empire with “ash,” possibly foreshadowing the literal falling ash as it quietly punctuates a catastrophic collapse. The exhibition title ends with an arbitrary backslash, successfully offering an illusion of symmetry and order. A symbol robbed of its meaning and repurposed for aesthetics. The backslash functions to separate descending computer files, placing ÆMPIRE\ at the top of an informational hierarchy.
Hartford Artspace Gallery
Friday 10/10
6-9 PM
PARKING AT UNION STATION (train station across street from artspace)
My Heart is Tight for You
Mahsa Attaran’s solo exhibition, opens at Hartford TheaterWorks this fall. Presented in conjunction with the Pulitzer Prize–winning play ENGLISH, the exhibition brings a visual counterpart to the play’s exploration of memory, identity, and belonging.
Curated by Peter Albano
October 2 – November 2, 2025
Opening Reception: October 8 at 6:30 PM
This exhibition invites audiences to experience a dialogue between image and performance, emotion and story, offering an intimate reflection on the ties that hold us together.
Mahsa Attaran’s solo exhibition, opens at Hartford TheaterWorks this fall. Presented in conjunction with the Pulitzer Prize–winning play ENGLISH, the exhibition brings a visual counterpart to the play’s exploration of memory, identity, and belonging.
Curated by Peter Albano
October 2 – November 2, 2025
Opening Reception: October 8 at 6:30 PM
This exhibition invites audiences to experience a dialogue between image and performance, emotion and story, offering an intimate reflection on the ties that hold us together.
Hold Fast is an exhibition that brings together the work by Mahsa Attaran, Monica Hamilton, Hanieh Kashani, and Anna Schwartz as we conclude our Master of Fine Arts studies at the University of Connecticut. This showcase brings together four diverse voices that have evolved in tandem over the past three years, shaped by shared spaces, dialogue, and collaborative growth. We have developed distinctive practices within the broader framework of our cohort and place in this world by creating work that resonates on individual and collective frequencies. Through photography, installation, painting, and sculpture, this group exhibition reflects years of engagement with questions of perception, distance, revolution, and archival memory. Hold Fast presents both our unique perspectives and the shared experiences that have shaped our journeys.
On view: October 4 - October 26, 2025
Opening Reception: THIS Thursday, October 9, 6-9 pm
AUTOMAT, Crane Arts Building, 1400 N. American St, Philadelphia
On view: October 4 - October 26, 2025
Opening Reception: THIS Thursday, October 9, 6-9 pm
AUTOMAT, Crane Arts Building, 1400 N. American St, Philadelphia
Under the Influence
Glad to be part of Under the Influence a group exhibition that explores the dynamic and ever-evolving conversation between artists across time and space. This group exhibition invites artists to showcase how their work reflects the profound influence of others—whether through the inspiration drawn from contemporary peers, responses to past movements, or conversations with the art world at large. In this show, art is seen as a continuous dialogue where each creator builds upon the ideas and styles of those who came before them. Under the Influence is a celebration of how artistic expression transcends boundaries and creates new connections, where every piece tells a story of influence—be it through technique, concept, or thematic resonance.
Glad to be part of Under the Influence a group exhibition that explores the dynamic and ever-evolving conversation between artists across time and space. This group exhibition invites artists to showcase how their work reflects the profound influence of others—whether through the inspiration drawn from contemporary peers, responses to past movements, or conversations with the art world at large. In this show, art is seen as a continuous dialogue where each creator builds upon the ideas and styles of those who came before them. Under the Influence is a celebration of how artistic expression transcends boundaries and creates new connections, where every piece tells a story of influence—be it through technique, concept, or thematic resonance.
RECEPTION From 05/02/2025 - 5:00pm to 06/28/2025 - 8:00pm Lux Center for the Arts, WEST GALLERY
May 2nd, 2025 to June 28th, 2025
May 2nd, 2025 to June 28th, 2025
Artists: Olivia Abie, Adrian Almquist, Beatrice Atencah, Aimi Athika, Mahsa Attaran,Jess Bass, Marta Berzina, Rodene Brchan, David Cade, Ellen Carey, Séamus Carey, Marcy Chevali, Drew Davies, Cassidy English, Jaden Estes Carlson, Lynette Fast, Marcella Hackbardt, Susan Heggestad, Christopher Hill, Zach Horn, Tony Larson, Mallory Lempke, Andrey Makalkin, Monika Malewska, Kate Moran, Lacey Prpić Hedtke, Bryan Raymundo, Makenzie Raymundo, Marina Rozhko, TandMArts, Jill Wells
FALSE CITY is an exhibition that challenges how we see, remember, and mythologize the built environment. Taking its name from the Latin Falsum Urbis, meaning “False City,” the show interrogates how urban ruins are less about what remains and more about what is constructed—materially, ideologically, and emotionally. These are not passive remnants of a forgotten past, but curated relics—sculpted symbols of preservation and power. Rather than confront collapse, such sites often pacify it, glossing over violence, exclusion, and exploitation with the sheen of nostalgia.
This exhibition brings together sixteen contemporary artists whose works resist the illusion of permanence. They do not seek to restore or revere; they aim to reveal. They dismantle the mythic architectures of empire, consumer culture, memory, and identity to propose new ways of seeing, remembering, and inhabiting the city.
Artist: Mahsa Attaran, Lauren Be Dear, Bethani Blake, Peter Riggs Brown, Jennifer Burbank, Christian Crowley, Enrique Figueredo, Monica Hamilton, Hanieh Kashani, Timothy Andrew Kussow, Adam Niklewicz, Galeria Rusz (Joanna Górska and Rafał Góralski), Anna Schwartz, Julie Wakefield, Paco Winebox, and Christa Whitten.
False City opens at ArtSpace Hartford on Friday, July 11, from 6 to 9 PM and runs through July 25, 2025.
555 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT
Exhibition Dates: July 11 – 25, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, July 11, 6–9 PM
Curated by John O’Donnell
Gallery Hours:
Tue 7/22 1-5
Wed 7/23 1-5
Thur 7/24 1-5
Fri. 7/25 1-5
This exhibition brings together sixteen contemporary artists whose works resist the illusion of permanence. They do not seek to restore or revere; they aim to reveal. They dismantle the mythic architectures of empire, consumer culture, memory, and identity to propose new ways of seeing, remembering, and inhabiting the city.
Artist: Mahsa Attaran, Lauren Be Dear, Bethani Blake, Peter Riggs Brown, Jennifer Burbank, Christian Crowley, Enrique Figueredo, Monica Hamilton, Hanieh Kashani, Timothy Andrew Kussow, Adam Niklewicz, Galeria Rusz (Joanna Górska and Rafał Góralski), Anna Schwartz, Julie Wakefield, Paco Winebox, and Christa Whitten.
False City opens at ArtSpace Hartford on Friday, July 11, from 6 to 9 PM and runs through July 25, 2025.
555 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT
Exhibition Dates: July 11 – 25, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, July 11, 6–9 PM
Curated by John O’Donnell
Gallery Hours:
Tue 7/22 1-5
Wed 7/23 1-5
Thur 7/24 1-5
Fri. 7/25 1-5
Hold Fast
Anchoring ourselves in the delicate balance of stillness and motion, we hold onto what we can save. This mosaic of resilience and connection is pieced together from fragments of memory, heritage, and belonging. Across borders, we engage with forces that shape and fracture our lives—grief, loss, hope, and memory—tracing echoes of connections and divisions.
We pause at a moment of in-betweenness, coming together for a harmonious connection of the past three years as four artists. Seeking grace, we step into the future, holding fast to the weight of hope as we carry it forward.
Artists: Mahsa Attaran, Hanieh Kashani, Monica Hamilton, Anna Schwartz
Mystics of Home
“Mystics of Home,” a group photography exhibition curated by Kat Miller. This evocative collection explores the mystical, uncanny nostalgia of home and how we perceive it
Opening: July 4th 5-8 PM
Exhibition dates: July 4 - 25, 2025
82 Parris St Gallery, Portland, ME
“Mystics of Home,” a group photography exhibition curated by Kat Miller. This evocative collection explores the mystical, uncanny nostalgia of home and how we perceive it
Opening: July 4th 5-8 PM
Exhibition dates: July 4 - 25, 2025
82 Parris St Gallery, Portland, ME