Let Them Lead the Way

Mary Fleming is a US born multi-media artist currently based in Richmond, Virginia. She trained and studied art throughout her youth and studied Craft & Materials Studies in the F i n e A r t s d e p a r tme n t o f V i r g i n i a Commonwealth University. Fleming has a long history of working in the gallery field and art education. Currently her concentration is on sculpture works. Fleming's paper pulp sculptures are emboldened objects from memory. Building the armatures from reused materials, she creates intrigue of typically mundane commodities transforming natural symmetry and factory-finished objects into something slightly askew. A true fusion of human admiration of the machine made and the commercialization that we can get caught in. 

Rachel Hayden (b. 1992, Cincinnati, OH) is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Her quirky, playful paintings are populated by motifs drawn from the margins of her middle school notebooks. Butterflies, rainbows, shooting stars, caricature self-portraits, fruits, and flowers with human faces appear again and again like a cast of recurring characters placed in different settings and situations. Intuitive in nature, while simultaneously prioritizing organization and visual balance, Hayden likens her process of placing objects to arranging souvenirs on a shelf. The artist received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland in 2015. Numerous galleries and museums such as Bim Bam Gallery, Hashimoto Contemporary, and New Collectors Gallery have featured Rachel Hayden's work in the past. 

Jack Kenna (b. 1994, Durango, CO) is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Kenna received his BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, Canada, 2019. Kenna navigates between painting and sculpture, integrating found images, objects, and text into his work. Jack Kenna’s artistic practice extends fluidly across painting and sculpture, often incorporating found images, objects, and text. Drawing partially from his material surroundings, his compositions are highly considered and incorporate unconventional juxtapositions, uncanny backgrounds and close-up cropping of objects of subjective and sentimental value. Kenna also makes great use of the extensive cache of online imagery to develop a vocabulary of motifs that are constantly appearing, morphing, and reappearing in his practice. Kenna's works incorporate a broad range of techniques allowing him to use varied methods of representation. As a young artist, he is comfortable merging imagery from the history of still life painting with the archive of cell phone photography, allowing him to create works that convey the paradoxes inherent in the contemporary experience. 

Alberto Pazzi (b. 1990, León, Mexico) is a New York-based painter and illustrator whose work has been featured in Vogue, Elephant Mag, and Creative Boom, to name a few. Frequently using acrylic paint and collage as his primary vehicle of expression and inspired by human connections, romantic delusions and a signature pink palette, his highly stylized and bizarre paintings are rendered in a flat style that take cues from minimalism, and cartoon- reminiscent painted lines, along with compositions of the female body, animals and other creatures. His work conveys an impressive amount of expressions and emotions moving from humor, mystery, sex, beauty and desire, all the way to emptiness, frustration, longing and love. In a way, these depictions develop into his very own self-portraits and often combine bright colors and humor. Pazzi’s most recent solo exhibition was called “Put on Your Red Shoes and Dance the Blues” which showcase the development of the artist's subconscious musings, passions, and investigations over the past decade of living in New York. 

Samuel Richardson (b. 1998, Richmond, VA), Lives and works in Richmond, VA. Drawing on the innovation and elegance of the medieval and European Renaissance periods, Richardson creates portals to alternate realms where inner exploration and imagination intertwine with intricate depictions of surreal forms and ethereal landscapes. These portals blur the boundary between fantasy and reality, inviting viewers to explore worlds that feel both familiar and fantastical, capturing the richness of human experience through openended narratives. Richardson's artistic process is deeply introspective, driven by a desire to explore the subconscious. By repurposing found materials that are often discarded or forgotten, he creates worlds that elevate their original essence, shaping spaces that mirror the landscape of dreams, memories, and timeless imagery. Richardson's work encourages curiosity, empathy, and openness, presenting these alternate realms as complex reflections of our own lives. Each piece balances personal reflection with universal themes, celebrating the obscure as a compelling and deeply relatable part of the human experience. 

Kevin Sabo (b. 1992) is an American painter working in Richmond, VA. His colorful, character-driven works use exaggerated proportions and distinct fashion choices to define his figures. Men in suits serve as symbols of masculine tropes in American culture—nodding to the corporate world and the twisted nature of manhood. In contrast, the feminine figures embody playful heroines, often seen stomping on these suited men with high heels, playfully subverting traditional gender dynamics. Sabo has had successful solo exhibitions internationally; most notably New York City, Paris, Brussels and San Francisco. His work has been featured in publications like Architectural Digest and Metal Magazine. 

Josh Stover is a Virginia based artist and sign painter and is one half of the sign painting & design studio Variety Shop. Josh grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida and attended the University of Florida where he completed his BFA in ceramics. Josh’s paintings depict part seen, part imagined environments and still life scenes that evoke the nostalgia and aesthetics of days past, but feel at home in the present. Working in acrylic and gouache, he recalls and invents interiors and objects inspired by the colors and shapes of old signs, vintage packaging and children’s book illustrations, and the nostalgia of old homes and furnishings. He uses flat blocks of color combined with graphic shading and altered perspective to give his paintings a playful quality. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Japanese Summer: New Work By Josh Stover, Nucleus, Portland, Oregon, USA (2024) You’re Just My Type, Outré Gallery, Fitzroy, Fitzroy, Australia (2024), Quadrivial, Chefas Projects, Portland, Oregon USA (2023), and Potluck, Hashimoto Contemporary, Los Angeles, USA (2022). 

Bradd Young is an artist living in Rochester, NY. Young studied graphic design and studio art in Virginia where he began organizing pop-up exhibitions that would eventually lead him to open up a studio in Western New York after graduation. It was then that Young began to develop a color palette of soft pastels and a style merging his loves of cartoonish surrealism and fine art. Young has displayed work in Virginia and at several venues in both Western New York and New York City.  Young’s colorful absurdist work features the collision of different painting and rendering styles, resulting in a frenetic yet whimsical body of work referencing the media that shaped his childhood. He enjoys the process of allowing various ideas and imagery to present themselves. The expressions on his character's faces, off-kilter humor, and surreal scenarios come from his world view. Young sees his work as a form of escapism. The joyful art often masks darker more reflective themes. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the country