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Contemporary Art Matters, 243 N. 5th Street, Suite 110, Columbus, OH (2026)

10/07/2026

🎉🎉 Please join us Thursday, October 15th, from 3–4:30 PM to meet artist Arne Svenson and welcome him to Columbus!

We will be celebrating his work which is currently featured in three exhibitions throughout the city! At Contemporary Art Matters we have spotlighted his photographic series “Traffic” in our Viewing Room and opening the same evening after our artist’s meet and greet is “Queer Constellations: Photographs from the Aronowitz Family Collection” in which Svenson’s work is included. In addition, Beeler Gallery at Columbus College of Art & Design is presenting Svenson’s photographic installation “Future Passed” as part of its exhibition “Haunting,” on view through November 11.

Come meet Arne and help us celebrate his incredible work!

For inquiries and appointments to see Arne Svenson’s work, contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at 614-313-4360 or direct message ,
Photo of the artist by Caroline Tompkins for The New York Times

10/05/2026

🍂It’s October, and our exhibition “NoBody Left Behind,” curated by Justice Apple, continues throughout the month!

We are thrilled to present in the exhibition Bruce Robinson’s sculptural assemblage “Interface,” 2025. Robinson’s expressive work pieces together found objects, often embellished with his own painting, in playful constructions that invite movement and cast shifting shadows that become part of the composition.

Bruce Robinson is a visual artist based in Columbus, Ohio. Robinson is a Professor Emeritus at the Columbus College of Art and Design, where he taught for 32 years. A recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, Robinson received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA from Indiana University. Since 2020, Contemporary Art Matters has featured Robinson’s work in several solo and group exhibitions and in 2021 the artist had a solo exhibition, Flutterby, which was shown at the Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH. In 2024 he had a solo show at Contemporary Art Matters Columbus, OH Flying Home.

“NoBody Left Behind”, is a group exhibition curated by Justice Apple. The show features works by Justice Apple, Sarah Cain, Jennifer Coates, Sheree Hovsepian, Justine Kurland, Maria Yolanda Liebana, Melissa Meyer, Bruce Robinson, David Shrobe and Almond Zigmund, artists whose practices expand the possibilities of collage, assemblage, and material-based abstraction. Visit us this month to experience “NoBody Left Behind” and discover the many perspectives and practices brought together in this compelling exhibition.On view through October 31, 2026.

“Interface”, 2025
Mixed media assemblage
46 x 12 x 10½ in.

For inquiries and appointments to see works by Bruce Robinson and to see the show contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at 614-313-4360 or direct message ,

09/30/2026

✨Congratulations to Billy Sullivan on the stunning presentation of his work in the exhibition “The Bowery: Devil’s Mile” at the New Museum! We’re thrilled to see his work take its place in this incredible show.

New Museum
This is the first exhibition to trace the rich cultural history of New York’s oldest thoroughfare, illuminating the Bowery—now home to the New Museum—as one of the most infamous yet astonishingly underexplored streets in the world. On view from September 24, 2026, through January 31, 2027

For centuries, the Bowery has been a place of transformation and invention, a gateway for immigrants, a refuge for drifters and dreamers. Described as “a democratic vortex” by Jacob Riis and “the great highway of humanity” by Theodore Roosevelt, the Bowery has been a place of openness and experimentation, vice and deviance, that was also once known as “Devil’s Mile.”

Underscoring the Bowery as a site of perpetual reinvention, the exhibition will reveal the Bowery’s rich evolution through archival materials, historical artifacts, and through the works of successive waves of artists of all stripes who have lived or worked there, from Abstract Expressionism to Pop, Beats to punks, street artists, and beyond, featuring works by Lynda Benglis, John Giorno, Nan Goldin, Adolph Gottlieb, Keith Haring, Eva Hesse, Robert Indiana, Brad Kahlhamer, June Leaf, Reginald Marsh, Martha Rosler, Billy Sullivan, Cy Twombly, and Tom Wesselman, among others.

The Bowery: Devil’s Mile is curated by Lisa Phillips, Director Emeritus, with Thalia Stefaniuk, Curatorial Assistant. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog co-published by the New Museum and DelMonico Books with essays by Lisa Phillips and Thalia Stefaniuk, and reflections by Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Sara Driver, Debbie Harry, Bob Holman, and Richard Price.

Artwork Installation Detail Image: “Kiki’s Flowers for Klaus”, 2017, Pastel on paper

For inquiries and appointments to see his work contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at 614-313-4360 or direct message ,

09/28/2026

Coming this October to the Viewing Room: Arne Svenson’s "Traffic."

We’re thrilled to present this compelling photographic series, on view by appointment throughout the month of October.

To create his series “Traffic”, Arne Svenson positioned his camera 25 feet above his subjects, using a zoom lens to photograph cars snarled in traffic on the street below his studio. These private spaces, simultaneously public and intimate, are viewed from an elevated angle that reveals details of the daily lives of their occupants. Each vehicle becomes a time capsule, a glimpse into a life that offers a fragment of a story with no prelude or aftermath. Personal items, the passengers’ gazes, and animal companions become clues, creating narratives about the individuals passing through, sharing only fleeting moments of their lives.

For inquiries and appointments to see his work contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at 614-313-4360 or direct message ,

09/24/2026

Only one week remains to experience Carlos Gamez de Francisco’s playful paintings in our Viewing Room! His work will be available to view by appointment at the gallery’s 243 N. 5th Street location in Columbus, Ohio, through September.

Carlos Gamez de Francisco was born in post-revolutionary Cuba in 1987, to a Cuban-Spanish mother and a Cuban-American father. He grew up in Cuba and was educated in an academic style heavily influenced by the Russian Academy. At age five, he determined, with absolute certainty, that he would be an artist. By the time he was fifteen, Gamez de Francisco was diligently painting 8 hours a day, every day. Today, he often spends 15 hours a day painting and feels “very blessed to do what I love.”
Carlos Gamez de Francisco (b. 1987, Holguín, Cuba) lives and works in Fort Myers, FL, and Louisville, KY. He has received numerous awards, including the Key to the City of Louisville from Mayor Greg Fischer; the Museum Guild Purchase Award at the Evansville Museum; the SAIC Distinguished Scholarship at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and the “Dreammakers” Artist-in-Residence at the Muhammad Ali Museum. He has had solo exhibitions at 21c Museum, Bentonville, AR; Chauvet Arts, Nashville, TN; Monica Graham Fine Art, Carmel, CA; Hardcore Art Contemporary Space, Miami, FL; and the Colonial Museum of Fine Arts, Havana. Gamez de Francisco is represented in the collections of 21c Museum, Louisville, KY; the Fashion Resource Center at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; the Evansville Museum of Arts, Evansville, IN; the Muhammad Ali Museum, Louisville, KY; the Jasteka Cultural Center, Jeffersonville, IN; and Louisville Metro Hall, Louisville, KY. His work has been exhibited at Art Miami (2024), the Taipei International Convention Center, Taipei, Taiwan (2023), Art Market San Francisco (2022), ScopeArt Basel, Miami (2022, 2021, and 2012), Context Art Miami (2016), Art Southampton (2015), and Art Palm Beach (2014).

For inquiries and appointments to see his work contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at [email protected] or send direct message to or

09/22/2026

We’re delighted to feature Maria Yolanda Liebana’s work in our current exhibition, “NoBody Left Behind”, curated by Justice Apple.

Liebana’s “At Rest” (2024) draws viewers into a maximalist world of fantasy, and nostalgia, exploring the complexities of motherhood, identity, and escapism. From her series “The Venus Crusades”, it is inspired by the myth of Venus, disco culture, and the dance floor as a space of liberation. Liebana imagines the infinite possibilities of identity, where every version of oneself can exist simultaneously; where Venus and the maternal coexist. Her dazzling assemblages, sparkling and bejeweled, embrace feminine power in all its gorgeous complexities.

Maria Yolanda Liebana is a first-generation Latinx artist who grew up in Paterson, NJ. She received her BFA from Pratt Institute and her MFA from Maine College of Art. She currently has a solo museum exhibition, "A Place to Be Held," on view at Montclair State University Galleries. Her work has been exhibited at the Fitchburg Art Museum, Bailey Contemporary Arts, Cambridge Art Association, and ICA Portland, Maine. Her work is in prominent private and public collections, including the Pizzuti Collection at the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio. In 2018 and 2020, she was awarded the Queens Council on the Arts New Works Grant. She has been an artist-in-residence at Collar Works EMAR, Bischoff Inn, Vermont Studio Center, Pickwick Independent Press, and Kates-Ferri Projects.

Maria Yolanda Liebana
“At Rest”, 2024
Mixed media collage on wood panel, acrylic paint, mirror tiles, plastic decals, beads, wallpaper, foam, foam clay, plastic decals, inkjet on paper, sequins, fabric paint, glitter, oyster shells on wood panel
48 x 34 in.

“NoBody Left Behind” highlights artists whose practices expand the possibilities of collage, assemblage, and material-based abstraction. On view by appointment through October 31, 2026. For inquiries contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at 614-313-4360 or direct message ,

09/21/2026

Artist Laura Sanders’ paintings are on view in “Constellations of Difference,” an international group exhibition featuring women artists at Tang Contemporary Art in Beijing.

The exhibition will be open through October 16, 2026. Curated by Michela Sena, the exhibition brings together more than 40 representative works by 14 women artists from different parts of the world.

To bring together, within a single exhibition constellation, the works of Salome Rigvava (USA), Romina Bassu (Italy), Laura Sanders (USA), Krizia Galfo (Italy), Evgeniya Dudnikova (Russia), Marion Bataillard (France), Opal Mae Ong (USA), Marinella Senatore (Italy), Sarah Fripon (Germany), Kaito Itsuki (Japan), Alice Herbst (Sweden), Pannaphan Yodmanee (Thailand) and Etsu Egami (Japan), is to engage with a question that lies at the heart of contemporary artistic discourse: to what extent can the feminine still function as a critical category without reducing the plurality of experiences, geographies, and artistic languages to a singular definition of identity?

Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing 2nd Space
B5, Yard No.3, Jinhang E. Road, Shunyi District, Beijing, China

09/18/2026

We’re excited to feature Jennifer Coates’ “Sculpture in the Woods” (2026), in our current group exhibition, “NoBody Left Behind”, curated by .
A recent Artforum review offers this reflection on her work “Coates’s work seems to suggest that, despite man’s negative impact on the environment, the unique magic of Mother Nature always finds a way to glimmer through.”
— Annabel Osberg, Artforum, September 2025

Jennifer Coates is an artist working in Brooklyn, NY and Lakewood, PA. Recent solo shows include “Aniline Sky”, 1053 Gallery, Fleischmanns, NY, 2026; EXPO Chicago, solo booth with High Noon, Chicago, IL, 2026; “This Compost”, Tyler Park Presents, Los Angeles, CA, 2025; and “Reliquary”, Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY, 2025. Recent group shows include “DEVOTED: 20 Years of The McMillan-Stewart Endowed Chair in Painting”, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, and “NoBody Left Behind”, curated by Justice Apple, Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH both in 2026.

Her work has been written about in Hyperallergic, BOMB Magazine, the Brooklyn Rail, Art Critical, the Huffington Post, Smithsonian Journeys, and Art News, among other publications. She is the 2021 recipient of the John Koch Art Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a 2021 NYFA Award in painting, a 2019 Fellowship at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and a Sharpe Walentas Studio residency (2018-2019).

Jennifer Coates
“Sculpture in the Woods”, 2026
Mixed media on paper
10 x 8 in.
15 x 12 in. (framed)

“NoBody Left Behind” highlights artists whose practices expand the possibilities of collage, assemblage, and material-based abstraction. On view by appointment through October 31, 2026. For inquiries contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at 614-313-4360 or direct message ,

09/17/2026

Thrilled to have Sheree Hovsepian’s work in “NoBody Left Behind”, an exhibition highlighting artists who expand the possibilities of collage, assemblage, and material-based abstraction.

“Built from fragments—photographic, ceramic, textile—Hovsepian’s works treat the body as something provisional and uncertain. They invite viewers to look closely, to trace lines and textures, and to sense the presence of the hand that shaped them. In her work, photography becomes not a record of what has been but a starting point for making something new.”
-Marina Molarsky-Beck, Newhall Fellow in Photography, 2026

Sheree Hovsepian (b. 1974, Isfahan, Iran) lives and works in New York. She earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002 and her BFA/BA from the University of Toledo in 1999. In 2022, Hovsepian was included in the 59th Venice Biennale, with a room dedicated to her work. Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions at institutions and galleries including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; International Center of Photography, New York; Parrish Art Museum, Watermill, NY; The Drawing Center, New York; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; The Art Institute of Chicago; and Hauser & Wirth. Recent solo exhibitions include Pavilion Renzo Piano at Château La Coste, France (2026), Uffner & Liu, New York (2025, 2022), and Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton (2020, 2017). She will have a forthcoming solo exhibition at moniquemeloche in Chicago in 2027.
Hovsepian’s work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago; the Bronx Museum; the Studio Museum in Harlem; and the Zabludowicz Collection, London, among others. She was a 2024 resident at the American Academy in Rome and has also participated in residencies at The Drawing Center, the Banff Centre, and the Vermont Studio Center.

Photo credit Levi Walton

Sheree Hovsepian
Bliss, 2018
Silver gelatin photographs, nylon
37½ x 25 x 4½ in.

Sheree Hovsepian
Stretch Mark, 2018
Silver gelatin photographs, silver gelatin photograms, nylon
25.2 x 19 x 4 in.

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