Signs of Life

Cecilia Caldiera, Alison Kudlow, John Newman, Andrew Ordonez, Sarah Schlesinger,

January 20- February 17, 2024

We receive the world through a hole in our shoe.  Apertured objects frame the earth and separate ourselves from it. They are  structures, tools and rituals we create to mitigate the inexplicability of the universe.  What happens to these objects when they grow out of fashion, when new technologies replace them? What happens when we are no longer here on this planet to activate them?  What happens when they grow more holes and more world finds its way in? What would it be like when humans are gone and only these objects remain? Archeological remains become mysterious totems. Ripped from a visible context, they imply a different framing of the world than the one we inhabit today.

The artists in Signs of Life inscribe their objects with a sense of purpose, of ritual, or past use.  Their works are time capsules of our souls, able to record the way we lived; remnants of current human evolution. In different states and records of this day and age, the objects will outlive us. Our lifestyles, bodies, and communities are projected as objects related to the spirituality, psychology and aesthetics of our time.  

Caldiera and Ordonez use a process of material abstraction to imagine alternate or future realities, fabricating an anthropological future for their pieces.  Kudlow leaves an imprint of the physical vs psychological nature of humanity and the experience of being in a body. Newman and Schlesinger use images as a source of visual extraction; analyzing atomic sedimentary layers, hyperbolic geometry,  and hulking topiary canopies. Just as archaeologists dust off bone fragments of a long-extinct land mammal, they are creating a rich and physical interpretation of cosmic order. Together, these five artists form a vibrant history of the current anthropocene–something cherished for future societies to find and know that we existed with language, dreams and curiosity that survived our present struggles. Generally speaking, signs of life. 

Text by Alicia Adamerovich & Christopher Daharsh

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Cecilia Caldiera is a New York City-based interdisciplinary artist. Her work explores relationships among people, public space, time, and value. Cecilia graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in 2013 and an MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts in 2023. Currently she is a resident at the Hercules Art Studio Program and teaches at Pratt Institute and the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop.

Alison Kudlow (b. 1981) lives and works in Brooklyn. She earned a BA from the University of Southern California, a post-baccalaureate degree from Brandeis University and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Studio Art. She has shown at numerous galleries including Deanna Evans Projects, Swivel Gallery, Parent Company, Field Projects, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, UrbanGlass, Underdonk, and at Fullerton College in California and Hunter College in New York. She presented a solo show, Meaningful Rituals in Irrational Times, at Elijah Wheat Showroom’s Brooklyn location in 2019. She was an invited resident at the Art Ichol Center in Maihar, Madhya Pradesh, India in January 2023. She is currently making work for a solo show in May of 2024.

John Newman (b. 1952) is a New York-based artist. He was born in Flushing, New York, and received his BA from Oberlin College. He attended the Whitney Museum Study Program in 1972, received his MFA in 1975 from the Yale School of Art, and was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT from 1975-78. He has had over 50 one-person shows and participated in numerous group exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Newman’s sculpture, drawings, and prints are represented in numerous public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum, the Whitney Museum, the Tate Modern in London, the National Gallery in Canberra, the Albertina Museum in Vienna, among many others. John is the recipient of many awards and residencies, including the Rome Prize, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the NEA, and a Senior Research Fulbright Grant to India. Newman is the former Director of Graduate Studies in Sculpture at the Yale School of Art. He currently teaches at the NY Studio School and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He has been commissioned to do several large-scale sculptures for the City of Richmond, VA, Dai Nippon in Tokyo, Storm King Art Center, and Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ. 

Andrew Ordonez  (b.1991 Fort Worth, Texas) is a visual artist living and working in New Haven, Connecticut. Drawing relationships between mixed media and mediumship, he is interested in constructing ‘spectral encasements’ that explore the tension between surface and screen. He works in installation, aggregate casting, and video projection. Ordonez was a recent visual artist resident at the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, MO and the Casa Lu artist residency in Mexico City. A visual artist and independent curator, his work has been exhibited across the United States and North America. Recent exhibitions have been featured at Below Grand, Charlotte Street Foundation, H&R Block Artspace, Kiosk Gallery, and the Mexic-Arte Museum. He received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2013 and is currently a 2024 MFA candidate at Yale School of Art.

Sarah Schlesinger  (b. 1988, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania) is an artist living and working in New York City. Schlesinger received her BFA from Taylor University in 2010, and her MFA in Sculpture from New York Academy of Art in 2015, where she was a 2015 Chubb Fellow. Schlesinger was a 2022 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant Nominee and 2015 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant recipient. Recent shows include a solo show with Workplace Gallery in Newcastle, UK, and group shows at Vardan Gallery, Los Angeles, Sibyl Gallery, New Orleans, and Workplace Gallery, London. Upcoming solos with Huxley-Parlour Gallery, London, and Tennis Elbow at Journal, New York City in 2024.