Sam Meléndez combines his love for all things vintage and bright colors from his home, Puerto Rico, in his work. Evidence of his process is an integral component of his paintings, creating an authentic personal narrative alongside the subject he depicts. For this reason, the grit that charcoal marks leave behind and the notes he makes while sketching the pieces are important to the final compositions. "I love the combination of the raw, black and white of the charcoal and bare canvas contrasted with the super bright colors I work with."

Meléndez lives and works in St. Louis.

Nick Schleicher presents BAJA BLAST, an exhibition of new paintings that trace the vulnerability of healing through uncertainty. Ultra-vibrant shaped canvases merge and conjoin, undulating across walls and dancing through space. Wobbly edges and rhythmic movement reject the clinical austerity of minimalism in favor of an unabashed, imperfect humanness. The dynamic surfaces, layered with paint, embrace the sense of fun arising from a life filled with love.

The distinctive color palette of BAJA BLAST (teals, limes, pinks, tangerines, jewel-toned purples, etc.) celebrates the months leading up to Schleicher’s wedding and honeymoon in Baja Sur. It is also the continuation of CLOUD WAVE, Schleicher’s first international solo exhibition in Seoul, South Korea, where he emphasized color as a distillation of time. Like an eyedropper, each painting encapsulates a particular tonal range, preserving sacred and ephemeral moments to be revisited.

Schleicher’s practice has evolved, using the painting process as fertile ground for self-discovery. BAJA BLAST champions love as a catalyst for maturation and how our ever-present voids morph with connection. First emerging as subconscious markers of grief, the shaped canvases functioned as physical embodiments of spaces held. Tombstones and wobbly circles formed portals manifest from loss, from which we might find a connection in blankness. BAJA BLAST incorporates new forms; many doubled – even tripled. These new works hold the memory of
what was lost – they have not forgotten their old shapes – but in coming together, they unabashedly celebrate the life that now springs from their vibrant depths.

Co-written by Nick Scheicher and Marina May Schleicher

Recent solo exhibitions include Gallery JJ, Seoul, Korea; Monaco, St. Louis, MO; Grease 3, St. Louis, MO; and PLAQUE at Granite City Art & Design District, Granite City, IL. Selected group exhibitions at Julius Caesar, Chicago, IL; The Latent Space, Chicago, IL; The Luminary, St. Louis, MO; Aupuni Space, Honolulu, HI; and Gallery JJ, Seoul, Korea; as well as Galleries Art Fair and the Korean International Art Fair (KIAF) in Seoul, Korea. Schleicher’s work has been featured in New American Paintings (No. 143 & 167), Soft Quarterly (Spring 2021), The Pinch (Fall 2020), and Under the Bridge (Concentric Series: Issue 2) among others. 

Schleicher currently lives and works in Saint Louis, MO. 

Bringing paper home to her son, Clifford Miskell, Jr., for artwork after a long day of work started as a way to evade boredom and to occupy idle hands. Neither he nor his mother could have imagined that art would take center stage in the way. Following his graduation from Grambling State University, where he changed his name to Cbabi Bayoc, art led to a one-season job at Six Flags where he became a caricature artist. Determined to never return for another season of enduring harsh temperatures and harsh art critics, Cbabi (pronounced Kuh-bob-bi) began studying various artists to define his style and improve his skill.

The determination to not return to Six Flags led to what has become a solid career that has spanned nearly 3 decades. Today, Cbabi Bayoc is an internationally renowned St. Louis, MO-based visual artist, muralist, and New York Times Best Selling illustrator for Goodnight Racism authored by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. The evolution of Clifford Miskell, Jr into Cbabi’s name was fortuitous because he would spend his career working to live up to his name which is an acronym for Creative Black Artist Battling Ignorance; Black African Youth of Creativity. Acrylic paint, a flat brush, and an iPad have become not only his voice but his weapons of choice in battling the ignorance of prejudice and racism by showing the dopeness of Black people. His work has included challenging the perception of Black fatherhood through his 365 Days with Dad project, telling the untold stories of the unsung, and painting characters that allow everyday people to feel seen.

You can find his work in schools, hospitals, non-profit organizations, and businesses around the world. In addition, he has had the honor of adding to the work of individuals such as Prince, Dr. Nikole Hannah Jones with the 1619 Project, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi for Goodnight Racism, Chris Lighty, and notable companies including Hydro Flask, Coca-Cola, The Smithsonian Insitute, New Line Cinema, and World Wide Technology. Cbabi’s work is also in the collections of notable art collectors such as Maxine Clark, David Steward, Sr., Prince, Dr. Nikole Hannah Jones, Ken & Nancy Kranzberg, Jack Flaherty, Karen Bernod, Peter Martin, and Demarco Farr.

When Cbabi isn’t creating, you can find him watching documentaries, daydreaming about perfecting his pickleball game, and plotting his next antics to keep his wife laughing.

Zina Al-Shukri (b.1978, Baghdad, Iraq) is an Arkansas based painter who paints the figure in a variety of media. Her large portraits are painted from life. Her smaller works are sourced from family photographs, pictures, books, and her own imagination. All of her work is infused with emotionally charged imagery that digs deeper into the human condition. Each figure painted personifies a broad range of feelings, emphasized through gesture and color. Art has been used as a coping mechanism by Al-Shukri since childhood. Themes of war, birth, death, sex, destruction and life often come bubbling up to the surface of her paintings, as well as love, bliss, connection, spirituality and mysticism. Since graduating from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2009, she has become a single mother of three young children, two of which are twins. Al-Shukri has been exhibiting nationally and internationally since 2010.

Metra Mitchell’s unique identity reflects the impact of her social, economic, and ethnic history. Her mother immigrated to America from Iran during the Iranian Revolution. Her father was born and raised in rural Kentucky, the American South. The diversity of her multicultural background influences her artwork where she explores themes of strength, vulnerability, and transformation within the magical theater of painting and printmaking.

Metra Mitchell earned her BFA in Painting & Minor in Art History from Western Kentucky University on a full art scholarship and MFA in Painting from Fontbonne University with a teaching assistantship. She has taught studio and art history courses at many institutions for nearly two decades such as Maryville University, St. Louis Community College, St. Charles Community College & Southwestern Illinois College. She has lead Museums and Galleries courses as well as Drawing courses in Florence, Italy through the Missouri Study Abroad Intercollegiate Consortium (MOSAIC) via the Global Studies Department at Maryville University. Through the consortium, she has also taught courses in Madrid, Spain and Lugano, Switzerland assisting students in broadening their own cultural experiences through excursions visiting museums and major monuments abroad. She retired from teaching in 2023 and currently works as a full-time artist from her studio known simply as The Witch Hut.

Metra Mitchell’s work has been exhibited regionally, nationally, and internationally. Her work has been published in Juxtapoz Magazine, St. Louis Riverfront Times, All She Makes Magazine, Studio Visit Magazine, All the Arts Magazine, Create! Magazine & LUXE Interior + Design Magazine. Special collaborative projects include her work in collections at the Angad Arts Hotel & Metro Theater Company in St. Louis, MO. Commercial galleries who have showcased her work include Houska Gallery in St. Louis, MO, Sager Reeves Gallery in Columbia, MO and La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.

The Call is Coming From Inside the Houska is this year's annual Winter group show at Houska Gallery. Inspired by self-exploration, shadows, and light, enjoy the dramatic creations of artists: Jessica Bremehr, Joshua Chapman, Julia Curran, Emily Elhoffer, Barb Ferrari, Olivia Gibb, Matt Gray, Jacob Janes, Justin King, Zac Lassen, Sam Meléndez, Misato Pang, Sam Watkins Park, Song Watkins Park, Yelena Petroukhina, Edo Rosenblith, SLIME, Tiffany Sutton, Maxine Thirteen, and Jen Wohlner.

Lauren Tracy is a fiber artist working in St. Louis, Missouri. A graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design, Lauren has applied her craft in various forms including soft sculpture, wearables, home decor, and wall works. Dreams, mantras, and self-evolution are themes of interest explored through images, text, and material. Lauren is currently the curatorial director of Houska Gallery.

Channel 23 is a frequency of curiosity, desire, vulnerability, and humor. By tuning in, a path to existential queries is discovered via transfers, downloads, and dreams.

For this exhibition, Tracy explored how learning to fight could increase the capacity for reception and transmission. The artist began weekly boxing sessions with artist Mad Green. This training combined with meditation and various spiritual teachings has created the coordinates to land here, with you, and this collection of assemblages.

Foster Owen Atkinson was born in Birmingham, AL in November of 1998. He spent most of his childhood in Norman/Oklahoma City, OK. Foster moved to St. Louis to attend college at Webster University, where he studied art history, philosophy, and English. Currently, he works and maintains a studio in St. Louis, MO.

And One!

This title is derived from a phrase frequently heard during basketball games. “And One” refers to the act of a player scoring as they are fouled, plus the one free throw they are given for the foul. Here I am taking the blows and contact that comes from living and incorporating them successfully into my life and practice. Embracing the contact even. Hit, Get hit, keep going, etc. As both an athlete and an artist, any kind of success depends on focus, discipline and fearless physical commitment. I hope this work reflects that. 

Through this exhibition, Peter Manion aims to explore the significance of history in shaping our present and the importance of reinterpreting past experiences.

The title of the show, "Starting from Scratch", holds a deeper meaning for me that goes beyond its surface interpretation. It signifies the emotional act of transcending layers of memories to uncover hidden truths and bring awareness to our past.

The work presented in this exhibition is playful and free from any expectations. It is a reflection of the connections I have made with my surroundings, particularly places like Spain and Portugal, which have served as catalysts for my personal growth. Moving through different spaces and experiencing new cultures has ignited an evolution within me, leading to a fresh perspective and new opportunities for artistic exploration.

Through this exhibition, I invite viewers to join me on a journey of self-reflection and discovery. I hope to emphasize the importance of history in shaping our present and the endless possibilities that arise when we approach life with an open and curious mind.

Brian Schneider is a multi-disciplinary artist from Greenfield, WI. He received his BFA in 2014 from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and currently creates and shows work at Var Gallery and Studios in Milwaukee. Brian works in drawing, painting, photography, mixed media sculpture and digitally.

My work is first and foremost meditation, a conversation of intuition and contemplative thought. The process of creation is used as a means of introspection, as well as a way to process external experiences. A rhythm develops in this process of making,a rhythm of digging, sifting, marking, placing, pausing, re-placing and reaction.

My work is evolution, seen as individual works and how each piece fits into my body of work as a whole; how it relates; how it deviates. What is meaningful is how the pieces are the same and what is interesting is how they diverge. The spaces can be playful, disturbing, humorous, squirmy, weird, vulnerable, awkward, spiritual, sexual. The images and objects are evoked through the subconscious and so, deal with all of my experiences and emotions.

This summer at Houska Gallery we are hosting a group exhibition featuring work from Foster Owen Atkinson, Tim Hahn, Jeff Kapfer, Justin King, Julie Malone, Peter Manion, John Marksbury, Metra Mitchell, Alex Paradowski, Sarah Paulsen, Zackary Petot, Yelena Petroukhina, Nick Schleicher, Janie Stamm, and Mark Travers.

Since 1977, Larry Torno has worked in the graphic design business as a designer, art director, and creative director for companies large and small, from Fortune 500 to Not-for-Profit.

In 2004, a trip to Carmel, California changed everything. He was surrounded by the work of Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, and a friend's extensive collection of his personal work of the Great American West. It all awakened in him a personal dream – to elevate his love of photography to the level of creative expression that Torno finds in his design. He bought a camera and started shooting.

Today, Torno’s photographic work is an exploration of ideas and observations. He works for the moment when what is in front of him transforms into something not seen before.

HOUSKA Gallery is pleased to announce a group exhibition featuring new works from St. Louis-based artists: Jessica Bremehr, Matt Gray, Jessica Lynn Hunt, Justin King, and Jen Wohlner.

Feed Your Head is a multi-media collection including interactive internet art, floor and wall sculptures, and drawings. The works include themes of daily routine, the desire to live a plant’s life, relationships with God and others, and things that “just look cool.” With a variety of materials and colors, each artist's perspective will surely leave the viewer with eye candy and content to chew on.

Click here to see the virtual tour

Mark Travers graduated with a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis with a concentration in Multi-Media and Sculpture, and an MFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York with a focus on Painting.

 In his upcoming exhibition, A New Land, Travers will exhibit his bright, bold, and large “New Land” paintings. Of these works, Travers writes “I spent a good part of my work career flying across the country, often leaving early in the morning as the sun was coming up. I enjoyed looking out the airplane’s windows on the landscape below, seeing the rivers, streams, and neatly furrowed rows of crops from 20,000 feet. These images always gave me hope. In this series, I present America at a new, optimistic beginning in a post-pandemic world. I also present a new type of landscape painting, unbound from the traditional two-point perspective and horizon line.” Travers’s paintings reference multiple sources, among them the Color Field painters of the 1950s and the Hard Edge and Abstract Expressionists of the 50s and 60s as well as the works from multiple contemporary artists, architects, and textile designers. “I have a wide appreciation for art in all its forms, styles, and movements,” Travers says.

 Travers will also exhibit part of his thoughtful, meditative “Reliquary” collection. These are bas-relief wall sculptures that have been hand carved and painted by the artist. Travers’s Reliquary sculptures are informed by the Assyrian relief sculptures from 800 B.C., the Buddhist Steles from 1500 B.C., decorative ironworks from the 1800s and 1900s, as well as art from more contemporary figures. Travers writes, “In recent travels to museums, I’ve reintroduced myself to the sculptures of ancient artists and craftsmen from the Middle and Far East. Some of these museum works are over 3,000 years old. In Reliquary, I honor the beauty and elegance of these works by including some of their forms, characters, and symbols into new, contemporary reinterpretations of language, mathematics, and architecture.”

Click here to see the virtual tour

Roscoe Hall is a Chicago-born, Birmingham-based chef and visual artist presenting Caution Increases:

“Awareness and progression on all things are embedded in the beliefs of Rastafarianism. Movement connects all spirits. When one steps away from that belief it’s often based on monetary gain. A gain that now brings such a bright light on how you can move through society. Within that progress, caution increases and influences boost your significance.

This body of work is a personal connection to failures. Failures guided with great intention but fell short for whatever reasons. Fabric is symbolism within every piece. It’s meant to shape, protect and direct the message of the subject matter throughout, distracting the viewer from the image and opening up a dialogue based on an accrescent practice.

Rastafarianism is a faith that strongholds living with the knowledge of self. Holding a healthy body, and state of mind can assist aging with structure. A structure pushed through the admiration of color, sound, touch, and new ways to adhere with-in surrounding progression. Take caution with your choices because they will influence your surroundings.

PMA all day!!!”

Click here to see the virtual tour.

Michael Hoffman is a Saint Louis based painter presenting Nexus:

“My paintings are meditative studies done with rich colors and bold graphic compositions—I often incorporate circles, grids and stripes. The universality and appeal of this symbology pulls the viewer in and holds them there to explore the subtle details. I try to create work that both captivates and calms. I work with abstractions because I want to put forth something universal that can be open to interpretations that are unique to each individual and can continue to evolve over time. A common theme in my painting is the relationship between rigid linear form and the organic flow of nature, order and disorder. I feel this is reflective in many ways of our society and people’s longing for something more than the sterility of technology in our modern lives. I believe inclusion of these two elements creates a certain universal harmony in many of my paintings.

My pieces are also about the act of painting itself. I explore the physical nature of my materials and push to use unique and original methods of applying them. Many times there is strong evidence of my physical relationship to the canvas as I paint—using my body motion as a natural pendulum and the random arcs of my markings. Other works are done on wood panels that I coat with a plaster mixture and carve into before it sets. The geometrical markings bring to mind old nautical maps and celestial charts. I then apply multiple rounds of color washes (oil paints thinned with a clear oil-based polyurethane medium) giving the work a richly colored, almost glass-like surface. By virtue of the tactile painting surfaces and transparent and linear handling much of the process is revealed that can be traced chronologically. This leaves the paintings with a sense of history and ‘archaeology’.”

Click here to see the virtual tour.

Tiff J Sutton is a portrait photographer. Her work is characterized by the Black gaze, dual perceptions, and unique landscape. She places Black femininity at the forefront through complex, layered images and introspective portraits. She has attended community colleges and Washington University in St. Louis. Sutton has been featured in NPR and Humble Foundations Arts. Sutton has won the Black Women Photographers + Nikon Grant and was a resident at the Gullkisten Center for Creativity in Laugartvn, Iceland in June 2022. She draws upon Black feminist thought to create abstracted portraits of Black women. She is based in St. Louis, Missouri.

This winter at Houska Gallery we are hosting an exhibition featuring work from Bharat Ajari, Foster Owen Atkinson, Joshua Chapman, Troy Chebuhar, Samantha Clarke, Greta Coalier, Rachel Cox, Cullen Curtis, Greg Edmondson, Suzy Farren, Barbara Ferrari, Michelle Graf, Macayli Hausmann, Massoud Hayoun, Cary Horton, Jacob Janes, Sheldon Johnson, Sam Kampelman, Jeff Kapfer, Deborah Kraft, Zac Lassen, Laura Lloyd, Sarah Lorentz, Peter Manion, Jordan McGirk, Metra Mitchell, Philip Padilla / Katie Calfee, Brindha Parthi, Misato Pang, Zackary Petot, Jasmine Raskas, Lu Ray, Austin Roberts, Byron Rogers, Amy Firestone Rosen, Deanne Row, Linnéa Ryshke, Cory Sellers, SLIME, Lauren Michelle Tracy, Dana Murray Tyrrell, Jim Wilson, Jen Wohlner, and Aly Ytterberg.

Intuitive group show featuring new works by Neeka Allsup, Peter Manion, Sarah Paulsen, Sam Melendez, Misato Pang, Monya Nikahd, and Jane Tellini.

“How does one interpret the world? Through experience, dreams, somatic cues, and inner wisdom, we are given gifts that allow us a deeper understanding of this existence. Time and distance are irrelevant when entering into an explanation of perception based on a secret language written in marks, images, and movement. 

As artists, we are not necessarily given the responsibility of unlocking the code, but rather an opportunity to travel the portal, bear witness to the creation, and share the evidence gathered.”

Lauren Michelle Tracy
Curatorial Director
Houska Gallery

Julie Malone was born in Kansas City in 1971. She received a BFA in Studio Art/Painting from Central Missouri State University in 1995, and moved to St. Louis in 1996. She began her career as a digital designer, working within the decorative laminate industry. Her painting and creative drive were impacted in 1999 after the birth of her first child. At that time she moved from the corporate world to pursue her lifelong love of painting, and has since been painting professionally. While earlier trained in the figurative, Julie evolved into the abstract. Her oil paintings are reactionary expressions of humanity and the abundant beauty of our environment. The reflective nature of light and our relationship to color stimulates and syncs enabling her to express them with color and form. She is fascinated with color and how it affects emotions.

Emily Elhoffer’s work is composed of plump, vibrantly textured soft sculptures whose forms are abstracted from fatty bellies, thighs, and other figurative parts. She explores ideas of body image, body dysphoria, and our cultural conversation around beauty normativity. Her art glamorizes fat, irregularity, and non-normative forms; the sculptural objects she makes are visual reminders to worship your body. Emily makes offerings of spandex and tinsel, glitter fat rolls, and crushed velvet, celebrating the body through art in its multitude of forms, colors, and textures.  

Elhoffer is a nationally shown artist whose work is inspired by forms and processes of the body. She received her BFA from Kansas City Art Institute, has opened an artist collective in St. Louis, and is an MFA candidate at Sam Fox School. Her work is shown, installed, and collected in New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and St. Louis.

Renée Raub-Ayers is a self-taught artist based in central Illinois. She works primarily in acrylic and ink, and is inspired by mythology, nursery rhymes, and poetry. Preferring simple, bold lines, Renee focuses on portraiture with allegorical and often whimsical themes.

Jessica Bremehr is a visual artist working in St.Louis, Missouri. Through painting, sculpture, and installation, she offers an escape into fantastical realms where themes of gender, environmentalism, and science fiction intersect. She received her MFA in Visual Arts from Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St.Louis in 2021 and was recently featured in New American Paintings.

Two Feet, a selection of small works under two feet in size! Group show with artists Foster Owen Atkinson, Cbabi Bayoc, Ben Bradshaw, Paul Burkhardt, B.N. Blithe De Carona, Greta Coalier, Tim Hahn, Jacob Janes, Jeff Kapfer, Sarah Knight, Zac Lassen, Rachel Lebo, Madeleine LeMieux, Yaroslav Leonets, Sarah Lorentz, John Marksbury, Metra Mitchell, Danielle Nilsen, Samuel Watkins Park, Song Watkins Park, Jeremy Rabus, David Robinson, Edo Rosenblith, SLIME, Janie Stamm, Nick Schleicher, Chris Uphues, Eric Wieringa, and featured artist Melissa Wilkinson! ⭐️

Melissa Wilkinson is a lesbian watercolorist focusing primarily on the body as her subject. She received her BFA in painting from Western Illinois University in 2002. She then went on to receive her MFA in painting from Southern Illinois University in 2006. Her work has been featured in wide-reaching publications throughout the country including three editions of New American Paintings. She has shown in various galleries nationally and internationally including in South Korea and India and has won numerous awards throughout her career. In 2021 she relocated to New York to pursue her work full time. She holds a studio in Warwick, NY, and lives with her wife and two dogs.

Justin King creates his animal sculptures using reclaimed corrugated cardboard and often overlooked materials. He incorporates vibrant colors and repurposed mediums to explore beloved things in new ways. The themes traverse natural history, botanicals, music, and childhood whimsy, all of which can be appreciated by a diverse audience. These latest pieces experiment with new ideas, techniques, and materials - all created from humble shipping boxes. A Virtual Tour of the exhibition is available here.

St. Louis based fine artist, educator, and curator, Zackary Petot, has been honoring his skills in printmaking, utilizing monotype and screenprint over the past several years. He graduated from the University of North Texas with his Masters of Fine Arts in Printmaking in 2018, his work explores themes of queer codes within the LGBTQ+ community which are still referenced or long lost to our current queer culture. His work has been exhibited nationally, along with being published in several art magazines. He currently is the Exhibition Coordinator at the St. Louis Artists’ Guild, and an adjunct professor at St. Charles Community College. A Virtual Tour of the exhibition is available here.

Better When I’m Bad is an intimate collection of new work from Peter Manion, created from 2020 to 2021. During this time, amidst the pandemic, Peter took a sabbatical in Mexico, culminating in the inspiration for this series. The personal journey through culture and terrain set the scene for Peter to process ideas of consumption, celebration, and inner conflicts relating to relationships, love, and impulse. A Virtual Tour is available here.

In Foster’s first solo exhibition “Head Blooms”, we will be exploring outside the realm of our imagination with his unique compositions and fabric assembly. Foster Owen Atkinson was originally born in Birmingham, AL in November of 1998. He spent most of his childhood in Norman/Oklahoma City, OK. Foster then moved to St. Louis to attend college at Webster University, where he studied art history, philosophy, and English before choosing to stop his studies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, he works and maintains a studio in St. Louis, MO. A Virtual Tour is available here.

In Alex’s solo exhibition “Body Language”, we investigate the deeper meaning of communication in his figurative works. Alex Paradowski began his career as a graphic artist. His current work combines the time-honored techniques of papermaking and mosaic. He uses today’s technology of digital photography to create work from hand-cast paper cubes. A Virtual Tour is available here.

In Foundation Jump, Cory Sellers has been thinking about his immediate family and their development. The painted forms are symbolic in their placement, color, and usage. They represent many things that come to mind while painting including his family and the historical context of the forms. Cory is interested in the challenge of incorporating these forms into a visual language and building a strong composition. Certain features get manipulated or exaggerated using a variety of preliminary drawings both digital and traditional. This process continues until Cory feels the composition has developed its own characteristics, reminding him that the finished product does not have to look like the initial intention. A Virtual Tour is available here.

Featured artwork by Neeka Alsup, Foster Owen Atkinson, Jessica Bremehr, Dion Dion, Giulia Grincia, Tim Hahn, Sam Kampelman, Jeff Kapfer, Sarah Knight, Alicia LaChance, Rachel Lebo, Peter Manion, John Marksbury, Metra Mitchel, Alex Paradowski, Zack Petot, Gregg Rasmusson, Dr. Slime, and Melissa Wilkinson. A Virtual Tour is available here.

Ken Konchel specializes in capturing abstracted architectural images utilizing traditional equipment and silver gelatin printing. He’s won 74 awards in juried exhibitions and art fairs. He has had 25 solo exhibitions, and 14 group exhibitions and has been juried into 190 exhibitions across the country. A Virtual Tour is available here.

In LIMBOOO, Nick Schleicher presents a series of paintings with the indelible ability to soften harshness and bring levity to the overly serious. They make beautiful the roughness of life and loss, easing the pains of growing up. This series specifically investigates the parameters of permanence, finding comfort in the ambiguity of a life in flux.

Martin Kahnle explores the way that composition influences a visual narrative by conducting the viewer through the space of the painting, using a hyper-vibrant color palette and the action of the paint and brushwork, rivers flow, trees sway and plants come alive, reminding us that we are alone in our inner and external worlds and part of a universal whole.

Craig Carlisle's idea of meditation and contemplation play a major role in his paintings. He articulates indelible images which evoke an emotional response from the viewer. The series of heads are generally large canvases deliberately created on a scale to empower a room. The expressions Carlisle creates in his paintings are meant to pull from one’s subconscious, appearing anonymous and genderless, almost child-like. Carlisle opts to place the focus on the raw expression of his characters, eliminating the potential distraction of hair or adornments.

Andrea Coates explores imagination and alternate realities through her history of dressing up, wearing masks, and playing make-believe. She credits this childhood play as emboldening her creativity and identity into adulthood, where she still practices persona play. Her work investigates make-believe and pretends, helping her to tackle the anxieties of being an adult woman, having an autoimmune disease, and losing loved ones. Through this work, we witness her contemplate diads of vulnerability vs. power, hiding vs. revealing, and presence vs. memory.

Featured artwork by Neeka Alsup, Quinn Antonio Briceño, Andrea Coates, Julia Curran, Emily Elhoffer, Caleb Gebel, Tim Hahn, Mark Hillard, Peter Manion, Mark Pack, Alex Paradowski, Zackary Petot, Jeremy Rabus Greg Rasmusson, and Renée Raub-Ayers.

John Marksbury is a St. Louis-based artist and designer who relocated from Boston, MA, in early 2013. Developed through an intuitive process of layering and expressive mark-making, John’s colorful paintings explore ideas of time and space, the fantastic and mystical, symbolism, and the tension between objective and subjective experience. John has found a supportive home in the local arts community, exhibiting work at Art Saint Louis and most recently at Saint Charles Community College’s biannual painting invitational. He is honored and excited to have his second solo exhibition at Houska Gallery.

In Metra Mitchell’s series entitled “Other Disguises”, archetypal characters appear in many disguises within staged theatrical environments. A certain strangeness in their representation reflects the fragmentation and duplication of the ego in a dream. Unpacking this constellation of imagery carries a strong emotional charge, conjuring a complex process of transformations. This metamorphosis involves the human body- a living presence that may take on different shapes and forms. Concealed identities, masks, and other disguises reflect a lack of certainty.

Through painting, drawing, and sculpture, Amy Reidel abstractly combines imagery to illuminate the bittersweet conditions of motherhood, family, and sexuality; topics most people experience but are not encouraged to discuss professionally. The innocuous, inherited patterns of Grandma’s scarves and decorative rugs merge together with darling babies and scared caregivers in an absurd representation of home and love.

Featuring artwork by Neeka Allsup, Jenna Bauer, Quinn Antonio Briceño, Brian DePauli, Emily Elhoffer, Carrie Gillen, Jeff Kapfer, Justin King, Zachary Lassen, Rachel Lebo, Peter Manion, Jordan McGirk, Metra Mitchell, Jeremy Rabus, Nick Schleicher, Dr. Slime, and Eric Wieringa.

A reflective quarantine series from Peter Manion that focuses on the emotional aspects of art-making - honoring memories lost and forgotten without becoming burdened by them.

This from Quinn Antonio Briceño explores the tensions and prejudices between ethnicity and social class, elitism, and racism, both in the United States and Latin America.

Featured artwork by Neeka Allsup, Brian DePauli, Emily Elhoffer, Mark Hillard, Michael Hoffman, Justin King, Zac Lassen, Rachel Lebo, Peter Manion, John Marksbury, Jordan McGirk, Metra Mitchell, Patrick Owen, Edo Rosenblith, Nick Schleicher, Dr. Slime, Larry Torno, Sam Watkins-Park, and Eric Wieringa.

A survey of hyper-saturated, iridescent color field paintings and sculptures from Nick Schleicher’s recent exploration into his personal sense of aesthetic and display.

Mark Pack explores themes of nature and how we as a society interact with it, through the process of brushing, pouring, and layering paint - sometimes hundreds of layers. He then goes into these layers, cutting and reshaping the work and watching it evolve through various stages. For Pack, this is a way to examine the duality between chaos and control.

Featured artwork by Tony Cray, Harley Lafarrah Eaves, Steve Hartman, Justin King, Julie Malone, Peter Manion, John Marksbury, Jordan McGirk, Metra Mitchell, J.B. Nearsy Wright, Carmelita Nuñez, Renée Raub-Ayers, Gregg Rasmusson, Nick Schleicher, and Eric Wieringa.

St. Louis-based artist Paula Haniszewski’s work is an exploration of portraiture that pulls from art history, vintage print ads, and film stills, resulting in newly-constructed identities and personas. 

Caleb Gebel’s imagery is culled from past experiences and opinionated daydreams that are filtered through an optical assemblage of video games, cartoons, comedic horror, and thrash metal to create an abstract agnostic narrative. His paintings search for an illusive allegory that evokes meaning through a process of cultivating their own language while simultaneously deciphering it.

Featured artwork by Myles Keough, Alicia LaChance, Jordan McGirk, Metra Mitchell, Jeremy Rabus, Chris Scott, Carol Fleming, Michael Hoffman, Julie Malone, and J.B. Nearsy.

Carrie Gillen’s interdisciplinary work is an exploration of materials used in contemporary building practice, design, and fabrication. She manipulates these materials, investigating and finding visual signifiers that represent a discourse with space. Gillen is interested in re-ordering the material that surrounds, protects, and often defines our livelihood.

Jordan McGirk's work explores the anxious embodiment of western hypermasculinity and represents the fragility of living out fragmented ideologies. His most recent paintings investigate fantasies of power and privilege performed at hardcore and heavy metal shows by posturing young men.

Christopher Ruess' recent, large-scale paintings explore a visual language inspired by marine shapes and their contexts - particularly vernacular shapes indicative of water and terrestrial forms.

Featured artwork by Tony Cray, Michael Hoffman, Bethanie Irons, Jeff Kapfer, Myles Keough, Ken Konchel, Julie Malone, Peter Manion, John Marksbury, Metra Mitchell, J.B. Nearsy, Renée Raub-Ayers, Justin Tolentino, Larry Torno, and Diana Zeng.

Jeremy Rabus’ paintings are composed using an intuitive process of layering and excavating. He arranges vivid hues alongside subtle tones, or rich and opaque passages with translucent glazes. These elements overlap, intertwine, and accentuate each other.

John Marksbury is a St. Louis-based artist and designer who relocated from Boston, MA, in early 2013. Developed through an intuitive process of layering and expressive mark-making, John’s paintings explore ideas of time and space, the fantastic and mystical, symbolism, and the tension between objective and subjective experience.

Featured artwork by Laura Berman, Bethanie Irons, Carly Kurka, Lillian Stephen, and Sonya Williams.

As a colorist, Julie Malone’s abstract landscapes push the boundaries of color theory, creating depth and movement that engage the viewer and allow for emotional connections.