Fertile Plains
Works by Madeleine Bialke, Saskia Fleishman and Kelsey Shwetz
January 20 - March 5, 2022
Opening reception: Thursday, January 20th, 4-8pm
Address: 242 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011
Dinner Gallery is proud to present Fertile Plains, a group exhibition by three artists, Madeleine Bialke, Saskia Fleishman and Kelsey Shwetz, who are continually redefining and revitalizing the classic genre of landscape painting. This show opens January 20th and will remain on view through March 5th with an opening reception on Thursday, January 20th from 4-8pm.
The history of landscape painting has been long, abundant and nonetheless a fundamental part of contemporary art. As the natural world evolves, so has landscape art over the centuries. Artists of today are now grappling with a new set of challenges; ranging from the dramatic deterioration of our environment to an increasingly disconnected world mediated by phone and computer screens.
Traversing and navigating through an expanding digital realm, it seems vital to reconnect to our surroundings with refreshing perspectives. Fertile Plains highlights four artists who are shaking up traditional pictorial landscape painting to reinvent a genre that has historically been highly stylized.
The curiously playful color palettes of Madeleine Bialke call to mind scenes that are familiar and abnormal at the same time. Kelsey Shwetz’s more painterly works focus on a post-Anthropocene landscape in which only relics of the natural world remain. While Saskia Fleishman’s inverted horizon lines suggest an alternative way of thinking and identifying memories within landscapes. Each artist redefines our understanding of landscape painting as a means to reflect the contemporary world.
About Madeleine Bialke
Madeleine Bialke received her BFA in Studio Art from the Plattsburgh State University of New York, Plattsburgh, later undertaking a MFA in Painting at Boston University, Massachusetts. She has exhibited widely, including solo shows at Harper’s Books, New York, Deanna Evans Projects, New York, and Visions West Contemporary, Denver. Bialke was the Artist-in-Residence at North Western Oklahoma State University in 2018, and was awarded the John Walker MFA Painting and Sculpture Award in 2016. She lives and works in, Brooklyn, New York.
About Saskia Fleishman
Fleishman, born in 1995, graduated Rhode Island School of Design in 2017 with a B.F.A. in Saskia painting. She has been an artist in residence at Vermont Studio Center, Wassaic Project, PADA Studios, ChaNorth and Trestle Studios, and a curator in residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Saskia’s work has been exhibited in a recent solo exhibition at Silo 6776 in New Hope, PA, and in group exhibitions across the United States, and in Rome and Portugal. Fleishman is based in Philadelphia, PA.
About Kelsey Shwetz
Kelsey Shwetz is a Canadian born painter who lives and works in New York. She is currently an MFA Visual Arts candidate (2022) at Columbia University and has been a visiting artist at Pratt Institute and Laguardia Community College. She is the recipient of the Edward Mazzella Scholarship, the Ellen Gelman Fellowship, and the Three Arts Club Scholarship. She was awarded fellowships at the Vermont Studio Center, Columbia University and CanSerrat Residency in Barcelona and grants from Canada Council for the Arts, The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, and the Mayer Foundation. Her most recent solo exhibition was at Casa Equis in Mexico City in April 2021.