Steve Turner is pleased to present Spring Break, a group exhibition curated by Ambre Kelly and Andrew Gori, the founders and directors of SPRING/BREAK Art Show (SBAS), the innovative exhibition that takes place annually in New York and Los Angeles during art fair weeks. The curator-focused fair described by the New York Times as “the place to find new art” has been showing emerging and mid-career artists in atypical and underused spaces for twelve years, allotting free space to independent curators so that greater experimentation can take place. According to Kelly and Gori the initiative is “An art fair. But like a temporary museum. But like a community project. But like an art fair.” Since its inception the fair has successfully introduced artists who gained greater notoriety including Julie Curtiss, Mr. Star City, Jeremy Olsen, Pat Phillips, Ya Chin Chang, Nate Lewis, Shona McAndrew, Jon Key, Madeleine Bialke, Rebecca Morgan, Kate Klingbeil, Aneta Bartos, Material Girls and Fall On Your Sword.
The exhibition at Steve Turner features thirteen artists (Mike Chattem, Lena Christakis, Ronan Day-Lewis, Chris Fallon, Jon Key, Kate Klingbeil, Kay Seohyung Lee, Nathaniel Meyer, Cate Pasquarelli, Jeremy Shockley, Brittany Tucker, Margaux Valengin and Jessica Wee) whose work has been presented at SBAS. For the gallery, there is added significance as four of the artists (Jon Key, Kate Klingbeil, Brittany Tucker and Jessica Wee) have had previous solo exhibitions at the gallery and were first seen at SBAS.
Andrew Gori is a curator of art, a writer and director of film & music videos & short stories, and the co-director/co-founder of semi-philanthropic art movement SPRING/BREAK Art Show. A graduate of Bard College, Gori has been a psychiatric hospital orderly, an assistant to film directors, a filer in philanthropic corporate offices, and, since 2008, has been in many real and imaginary collaborations with partner Ambre Kelly including The They Co. creative solutions company, BOYFRIENDGIRLFRIEND artist duopoly, THE METRIC SYSTEM artist collective, THE UNDERGROUND LIBRARY publishing house, and, most recently, &MBRES&ND Productions for film and TV storytelling. Gori was born in 1982.
Ambre Kelly is a painter, future Janet Jackson back-up-dancer, and co-director/co-founder of SPRING/BREAK Art Show. A graduate of both Wofford College and American University where she received a Masters in painting and printmaking in Rome, Kelly has shown work in New York City, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Charleston and Milan. Her illustrations have appeared opposite partner Andrew Gori’s stories ‘The Gotham Carnival’ and ‘Forever, Michael’ through their book-binding and publishing initiative THE UNDERGROUND LIBRARY and her video work, both alongside and absent Gori, shown throughout the world as well as her ‘SIGHTSEERS’ photographs taken as part of BOYFRIENDGIRLFRIEND. Kelly is a Sagittarius.
Mike Chattem (born 1988, New York) was raised in New England and received a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art. His works have been exhibited at Gattopardo, Los Angeles; Hashimoto Contemporary, Los Angeles; SOIL Gallery, Seattle; the Torrance Art Museum and SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Los Angeles and New York. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
Lena Christakis (born 1997, Chicago) graduated from Yale University with a BA in Art (2020). The first solo presentation of her work, Suitcase Paintings, was held at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Los Angeles (2023). Her works have been also featured in Oslo, Madrid, Santa Fe, and Mexico City. Christakis lives and works in New York.
Ronan Day-Lewis (born 1998, New York) grew up in Ireland and later graduated from Yale University with a BA in Art (2020). He has had solo exhibitions with D. D. D. D., New York (2023) and Spring Break in New York and Los Angeles (2022 & 2023). Day-Lewis lives and works in New York.
Chris Fallon (born 1976, Princeton) has had solo exhibitions at Landing Gallery, Los Angeles (2023); Spring/Break Art Show, Los Angeles (2020 & 2024) and CULT Aimee Friberg, San Francisco. (2021). He lives and works in Los Angeles.
Jon Key (born 1990, Seale, Alabama) earned a BFA at Rhode Island School of Design (2013) before moving to Brooklyn where he began developing his studio and design practices. He had a solo at Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate (2022); and has had six solo exhibitions at Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2019 – 2024). He also had a solo exhibition at SPRING/BREAK, New York (2019). Key lives and works in Brooklyn.
Kate Klingbeil (born 1990, Grosse Pointe, Michigan) received a BFA at California College of the Arts (2012). She has had solo exhibitions at Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2021, 2022 & 2024); Hesse Flatow, New York (2021); SPRING/BREAK, New York (2020). She lives and works in Milwaukee.
Kay Seohyung Lee (born 1995, Seoul) earned a BFA in Painting from Washington University, St. Louis (2018) and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania (2021). Her works have been shown in Seoul, Gimpo, Seongnam, Gongju, St. Louis, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, and Paris. Lee lives and works in Philadelphia where she also is a part-time lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania.
Nathaniel Meyer (born 1975, Weymouth, Massachusetts) earned a BFA in Painting at Boston University (1997) and an MFA at Lesley University (2014). He was an Artist Spotlight participant at SPRING/BREAK, New York (2023) and Los Angeles (2024). He has also had solo exhibitions with Moss Gallery, Falmouth, Maine (2023), and Page Gallery, Camden, Maine (2021). Meyer lives and works in South Portland, Maine.
Cate Pasquarelli (born 1998, New York) received a BFA from Cooper Union, New York (2020) and studied at the Slade School of Art in London (2018). She has exhibited her works at the Wassaic Project and BravinLee Programs, New York and SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York and Los Angeles. Pasquarelli lives and works in Brooklyn.
Jeremy Shockley (b.1982, Travelers Rest, South Carolina) creates paintings as a way to tell stories. Influenced by magic realist literature, Shockley renders the impossible in a matter-of-fact way. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
Brittany Tucker (b. 1996, Brooklyn) received a BA at Bard College (2018) and is currently studying at the Art Academy, Vienna. She has had solo exhibitions at Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2019, 2020 & 2022) and DWDS, Bregenz, Austria (2021). She will open her next solo show at Steve Turner in April 2024. She lives and works in Vienna.
Margaux Valengin (born 1992, Péronne, France) received a BFA from The National School of Visual Arts of La Cambre, Brussels and an MFA from the Royal College of Art, London. She has had solo exhibitions at Galerie PACT, Paris; Spring/Break Art Show, Los Angeles; Y2K Group, New York and Union Gallery, London. She lives and works in New York.
Jessica Wee (born 1988, Englewood, New Jersey) earned a BFA in Studio Art at Concordia University, Montreal (2011) as well as a Diploma in Classical Realism at Angel Academy, Florence (2017). She has had solo exhibitions with Latitude Gallery, New York (2022); Spring Break, New York (2022) and has had work included in group exhibitions in Canada and the United States since 2009. Jessica lives and works in Montreal.