I am thrilled to be a part of this show and welcome you all to the opening!

Featuring work by artists:
John O’Connor, Theresa Byrnes, Polly Shindler, Xanda McCagg, Anna Sorenson, and Brad Guarino.

Curated by Kelly Worman.

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, April 26th, 2012 6-9pm

New York, NY – Ground Arts Organization proudly presents the exhibition Paper:Work. This exhibition highlights works on paper by six contemporary painters. These six artists investigate one of the most familiar and humble of mediums, paper, and embrace the delicacy and surface of paper as a material. All six painters use paper as a point of departure, ranging from a platform for performance to a preparatory exercise; paper is an integral part of their processes. While separately demonstrating a broad range of technical and conceptual approaches, together they promise a fresh take on the indispensable presence of works on paper in contemporary art.

Gallery sales commission will be tax-deductible and go directly towards the I am Haiti Project. Ground Arts continues to support the I Am Haiti project which brought canvasses to the children of the Maranatha school and orphanage after the earthquake, helping rebuild their school with the exhibition of their first paintings.

John J. O’Connor was born in Westfield, MA, and received an MFA and MS in Art History from Pratt Institute, in 2000. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, was a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant in Painting, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant. He currently teaches drawing and painting at Sarah Lawrence College. In 2011, Mr. O’Connor had a solo exhibition at Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn. He has also had solo exhibitions at Martin Asbaek Projects, in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Fleisher Ollman Gallery, in Philadelphia. Mr. O’Connor’s work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Weatherspoon Museum, Southern Methodist University, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art. He currently has a studio at the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation.

Australian-born artist Theresa Byrnes began to exhibit her paintings in 1986 at the age of 16. She has had over 20 solo shows at spaces including Saatchi & Saatchi in New York and Sydney, Cristianne Nienaber Contemporary Art NYC, the Australian Embassy in Washington D.C., and many others. In 1996 Byrnes was awarded a Young Australian of the Year award, her performance pieces have been called ”wondrous,” ”purist,” and ”uncompromising,” by London’s Daily Mirror. Byrnes published her autobiography The Divine Mistake in 1999 (Pan Macmillan, Australia). She moved from Sydney to New York in 2000 and received Pollock- Krasner awards in 2003 and 2006.

Polly Shindler was born in New Haven, CT in 1977. She received her B.A. in History from The University of Massachusetts in 2001 and received her M.F.A. in Painting at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY in 2011. Polly was recently named one of “30 Artists To Watch” by NY Arts Magazine. Current shows include Scope Art Fair, “Chromophilia” at Brooklyn Artists Gym and “MsBehavior” at ArtBridge’s Drawing Room. She resides in Brooklyn and has a studio in Bushwick.

Xanda McCagg is a painter who’s work has been shown in both individual and selected group exhibitions in New York, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, and internationally in Budapest, Hungary. Her abstract compositions, rooted in figurative concepts are made with oil, graphite and collage. McCagg’s work has been collected by private individuals and is also in the Alliance Capital Management collection. Along with a BFA in Art Education from Boston University she has completed Fellowship and residencies at C.A.M.A.C Marnay Sur Seine, France, The American Academy Rome, Italy, Visiting Artists and Scholars Program, The Contemporary Artists Center, North Adams MA, and Vermont Studio Center, Johnson VT. She balances her time between painting and running her business: Art Introductions, art tours and events with a social twist. McCagg keeps a studio in Chelsea, NYC.

Anna Sorenson is born 1983 in Stockholm, Sweden. She has her BFA from Umea Univesity in Sweden and is currently in her last semester in the MFA at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, where she lives and works. She is currently working at Joseph Kosuth Archive and Sue Scott Gallery in Manhattan. In Sweden Anna has worked at the Moderna Museet (2004-2010) and created stage design for puppet theater ”Dockteatern Tittut” (2005-2006). She has also written art and dance criticism in ”Danstidningen” and on-line ”Omkonst”, 2003-2010. She has exhibited her work in Sweden, Germany and the United States.

Brad Guarino is an artist who has exhibited nationally and internationally. His paintings and drawings question mainstream ideas about masculinity and the way boys are socialized to become men in our culture. His work has been included in the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art’s Radius exhibition, the Sixth International Triennial of Graphic Arts (Sofia, Bulgaria), and the Balkan Quadrennial of Painting (Stara Zagora, Bulgaria.) Guarino did postgraduate study at Bulgaria’s National Academy of Art on a Fulbright Fellowship, and was twice an artist-in-residence in southern Bulgaria on Griffis and Orpheus foundation fellowships. He holds an MFA from the University of Connecticut and a BFA from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts. Guarino is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of art at Connecticut College. He lives and works in New London, CT.

CONTACT: Kelly Worman, Senior Curator, Ground Arts. EMAIL: kelly@groundarts.org

Ground Arts is a not for profit organization hosting exhibitions and helping artists receive maximum exposure and opportunities in the art market, while helping build art programs around the world for children.

Ground Arts Organization 508-526 W26th St. 9E/F New York NY 10001 www.groundarts.org