The Spaces In Between — The New York Times Review

The Spaces in Between — Solo show at Eric Firestone Gallery — New York, NY

Susan Fortgang

The Spaces in Between

Eric Firestone Gallery

40 Great Jones St

January 15 – March 1, 2025

Eric Firestone Gallery is pleased to present Susan Fortgang: The Spaces in Between, a survey of Fortgang’s career spanning from the mid-1960s through the present. The exhibition will be on view at the gallery’s 40 Great Jones Street location from January 15 through March 1. Susan Fortgang (b. New York, NY, 1944) is a painter who has been working in her SoHo loft since the early 1970s and is known for her highly impastoed gridded paintings. Over the past five decades, Fortgang has developed a singular artistic process and a deep oeuvre; however, this is notably the artist’s first solo exhibition.

The exhibition will trace the arc of Fortgang’s stylistic evolution, from her early “action paintings” made at Yale’s School of Art & Architecture, to her gridded paintings that honor personal, familial, and canonical histories of craft: crocheting, knitting, and needlepoint embroidery. For decades, Fortgang has both worked with the grid - that structure central to modernist painting - and simultaneously broken from it.

Fortgang is a native New Yorker—born and raised in Sunnyside, Queens—who studied painting with Louis Finkelstein at Queens College before going to Yale, where she earned her BFA in 1966 and MFA in 1968. At Yale, she studied with Jack Tworkov and Al Held, alongside fellow students including Howardena Pindell, Fred Sandback, and William Conlon. Her early abstractions used interiors as their starting point. They are composed of biomorphic shapes, energetic wet-on-wet oil painting, and a variety of mark-making approaches, dominated by pink, red, and orange palettes. Her next body of work utilized horizontal color bands, interrupted by dramatic vertical drips across their surfaces.

By the mid-1970s, Fortgang had become disillusioned with what she considered a performative way of painting, and sought to change her working method. As opposed to the existentialist philosophy of Abstract Expressionism, in which the artist might endlessly question the composition, Fortgang sought a clear beginning and end to each painting’s progression. She looked for systems of “making things,” as one approached craft production.

Instead of shape-making, Fortgang turned to the grid; and instead of dripping paint, she began to systematically build layers. She continues to work in this manner: developing very built up surfaces with thick acrylic medium and applying tape in grid formations. As she works, adding layers of acrylic paint, she removes the tape to reveal what is underneath. This process—of working in the reverse—is one Fortgang finds rewarding and satisfying. The resulting paintings are optically provocative, with unexpected juxtapositions of color and metallic pigments. The surfaces are defined by impasto hills and deep valleys. This lends them a curious trompe-l’oeil effect: although they are entirely made with paint, their highly physical nature often causes viewers to first assume they are woven, carved, or built with other materials.

Over the decades, Fortgang has explored systems dominated by primary shapes and forms. Her paintings of the late 1970s explored the diamond, while in the 1980s, her process revealed the shape of an amphora (a two handled vessel used in ancient Greece). Her work of the 1990s suggests patterns found in Native American art, and utilizes an earthy, desert-like palette. In the 2000s, her paintings had black grounds with complex patterns suggesting stars, flora, and fauna. They have a shimmering effect; Fortgang likes her paintings to “shake” with their inner energy.

Fortgang’s works become physical objects to contend with, rather than illusions to escape into. As such, her painting practice becomes one of politics: they shock the viewer into being fully present. For the artist, the very act of art-making became political within the context of the 1970s tenants rights movement. Fortgang has been a SoHo neighborhood activist since that time, and was part of an early wave of artists who achieved protections under the New York Loft Law. Later, Fortgang joined the SoHo Alliance to try to fight rapid gentrification, development, and to protect historic buildings. Through her efforts, alongside those of her artist husband, Robert Schecter, and other working artists, such as friends Jeff Way and Carolyn Oberst, she has maintained a vibrant studio in the heart of Lower Manhattan. Although her paintings don’t have direct references, she has tied her formal process—using tape to resist layers of paint—to political resistance. She is a fighter who distances herself from the romantic in favor of a structural approach.

Fortgang was the subject of a two-person exhibition with Cora Cohen at the SoHo Center for Visual Artists, New York, in 1977; and a three-person exhibition, with Jenny Snider and Miriam Beerman, at Pratt Institute in 1989. Her work was included in the influential exhibition Pattern Painting at P.S.1 in 1977, and these paintings will be on view in the gallery’s exhibition. Fortgang is represented by Eric Firestone Gallery, and this is the gallery’s first solo exhibition of her work.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue featuring an essay by Stephen Westfall.

The Spaces In Between — Show Catalog with Essay by Stephan Westffall

Cross Generational: 1950 to Now — West Palm Beach, FL

Eric Firestone Gallery is pleased to announce the inaugural exhibition and opening of its new West Palm Beach, FL location on January 31, 2026. The gallery will occupy a warehouse-style space in the up-and-coming Flamingo Park neighborhood, a newly established artworld hub. The gallery will showcase significant American artists of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, alongside contemporary counterparts. The inaugural exhibition is Cross Generational, including approximately twenty historic and contemporary artists.

Over the last decade, in its New York City and East Hampton locations, the gallery has mounted substantial exhibitions that have garnered attention and raised the profile of many artists in its stable. In 2025, artists and estates represented by the gallery were shown at museums nationally and internationally, including solo exhibitions for Joe Overstreet, Miriam Schapiro, and Nina Yankowitz at the Menil Collection, Houston; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; and MFA St. Petersburg, respectively. 

Eric Firestone, a South Florida native, is returning to West Palm Beach for his third consecutive season, recognizing the vibrancy of the artworld and a niche for his particular point of view. Firestone was recently highlighted in Artsy, where he was quoted noting that in East Hampton, “community works here in a way that they take notice if you’re accessible or if you’re not accessible.” Firestone has staked his career on being accessible to collectors, artists, and the public alike. Throughout the season, the Palm Beach gallery will host talks, receptions, and intimate gatherings that invite collectors, neighbors, and visitors to participate in the discovery process. 

In addition to its curatorial contributions, the gallery works with individual collectors, designers, and consultants to build significant collections for clients. Recent private acquisitions have been featured in Architectural Digest and other design and lifestyle publications. 

The gallery is known for highlighting the work of women artists and artists of color, expanding the canon of U.S. art. One aspect of the gallery’s program that has gained recent recognition is figurative painting by women artists, such as the groundbreaking Martha Edelheit, who has pioneered erotic art from a woman’s perspective since the 1960s. The artist was interviewed in Vogue about her idea of erotic art, which she views as inherently playful and sensual. The gallery is delighted to showcase her work in West Palm Beach in close proximity to the Norton Museum, where the 94-year old’s work was recently acquired. 

The gallery participates in international art fairs including Art Basel Miami Beach, Frieze Masters London, and others annually, where booths have recently been highlighted as critic’s choices in publications such as the New York Times, Artsy and Artnet. Its New York City shows are frequently highlighted as ‘what to see’ in these publications as well as The New Yorker, Artforum, and other outliers.

The Armory Show — New York, NY

Eric Firestone Gallery is pleased to participate in The Armory Show 2025 at the Javits Center. The gallery’s presentation will combine historic and contemporary sculpture and painting, drawing connections between generations and highlighting the work of artists currently featured in museum exhibitions.

Women in Abstraction — Gavlak Gallery — West Palm Beach, FL

GAVLAK Presents: Women In Abstraction: Shaping Expressionism 

West Palm Beach, FL – September 2024 – GAVLAK is thrilled to announce its upcoming group exhibition, Women In Abstraction: Shaping Expressionism, which will run from March 8, 2025 to April 5, 2025 at its West Palm Beach location. This ambitious showcase brings together the work of pioneering female artists who have each made a significant impact on the world of Abstraction Expressionism, whose bold innovations helped shape modern art.
 
While often overshadowed by their male counterparts, artists such as Elaine De Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Jay DeFeo and Pat Passlof redefined artistic expression through gestural brushwork, emotional intensity, and radical experimentation with color and form.

In addition to showcasing historical works, this exhibition highlights contemporary artists influenced by these pioneers, demonstrating how Abstract Expressionism continues to inspire new generations. The exhibition features large-scale canvases, sculpture, immersive installations, and multimedia works that reimagine the expressive potential of abstraction in today's context.

"Women In Abstraction: Shaping Expressionism" celebrates the individuality and achievements of extraordinary female artists, emphasizing their vital role in the evolution of abstract expressionism. By bridging past and present, this exhibition highlights their enduring influence on modern and contemporary art, honoring their contributions and lasting impact.

Lynda Benglis
Jessica Cannon
Judy Chicago
Renée Condo
Elaine De Kooning
Jay DeFeo
Sonia Delaunay
Lynne Drexler
Torkwase Dyson
Marisol Escobar
Perle Fine
Susan Fortgang
Helen Frankenthaler
Sonia Gechtoff
Pam Glick
Cynthia Hawkins
Loie Hollowell
Field Kallop
Karen Carson 
Abby Leigh
Nancy Lorenz
Vera Lutter
Sylvia Plimack Mangold
Fabiola Menchelli
Wangechi Mutu
Elizabeth Neel
Louise Nevelson
Betty Parsons
Pat Passlof
Joanna Pousette-Dart
Deborah Remington
Alice Rahon
Loló Soldevilla
Lily Stockman
Alexis Teplin
Julia Von Eichel
Mary Weatherford

Fall Season 1 — East Hampton, NY

Frieze Masters — London, UK

Eric Firestone Gallery is pleased to announce its participation in the 2024 edition of Frieze Masters, London with New York Women Artists: 1950s–1970s. The presentation includes the work of nine artists, born between 1903 and 1946, who each brought a singular voice to post-World War II abstraction. The installation honors recent scholarship and an art world where women artists are breaking sales records and achieving major institutional recognition for their role in Abstract Expressionism and postwar abstraction.

An excerpt from the Press Release:

A second generation of women abstractionists includes Nina Yankowitz (b. 1946), Pat Lipsky (b. 1941), and Susan Fortgang (b. 1944). Pat Lipsky’s work is associated with Lyrical Abstraction and Color Field painting. Her Wave paintings are exuberant, vivid, and fresh. They are, by necessity, painted in one shot: acrylic on unprimed canvas, with color bands in loose wave formations. The waveforms are loose and aqueous, made by soaking the canvas with water and pouring liquid color. The color bands often dissolve into drips and splatters within the rectangle of the canvas. The forms do not extend to the outer edges of the canvas; they float in its open space. Nina Yankowitz created daring, dynamic works: spraying mists of acrylic paint to produce atmospheric expanses and then hanging the unstretched canvases in loose soft folds that cascade down and across the wall. Yankowitz will be the subject of a retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL, in Spring 2025. Susan Fortgang creates paintings with a physical presence, using thick layers of paint to form textured surfaces. She studied painting at Queens College, before going to Yale’s School of Art. where she would earn a BFA in 1966 and MFA in 1968. Early on, the artist made action paintings. These works from the late 1960’s employ vibrant palettes and biomorphic forms, capturing the excitement of the moment, undergirded by a logic of abstract shapes seemingly gravitating towards one another in companionship.  

The Amory Show — New York, NY

Eric Firestone Gallery is pleased to announce its participation in the 2024 edition of The Armory Show. A cross-generational group of artists and estates will be on view, highlighting aesthetic connections across decades. With this installation, the gallery is pleased to introduce two artists: Walter C Jackson (b. 1940), a sculptor who was recently exhibited in the Just Above Midtown exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art; and Cybele Rowe (b. 1963), an Australian ceramicist based in Yucca Valley, CA, who makes monumental sculptures. 

An excerpt from the Press Release:

An expressionist approach, sensations of the natural world, and lyrical brushwork can be found in the work of several artists on view, including Javier Arce, Elise Asher, Susan Fortgang, Colleen Herman, Hue Thi Hoffmaster, and Pat Passlof. The oil paintings of Javier Arce (b. 1973) oil paintings depict vivid natural scenes of trees and blooming wildflowers, inspired by the eco-fiction of Richard Powers and the philosophy of Michael Marder. His canvases are stretched on irregular repurposed untreated wood sourced from the artist’s countryside environment in Cantabria, Spain. Huê Thi Hoffmaster (b. 1982) creates calligraphic thickets of paint across his unprimed canvases. He depicts flower forms, although they are also stand-ins for figuration. His work oscillates between abstraction and representation, Eastern and Western painting traditions. Elise Asher (1912–2004) was a painter and poet whose integration of poetry into her works represents a significant contribution to New York School painting. Asher’s work of the early 1950s utilizes expressive, energetic linear brushwork and is composed in tight color families to create paintings that evoke or reference trees and plants. By 1961, Asher introduced text into these masses—blurring the line between brushwork and writing.  

Susan Fortgang (b. 1944) is an abstract painter who approaches each canvas as an experiment, working out a specific problem or trying something new. She creates paintings with a physical presence, often using thick layers of paint to create textured surfaces or iridescent medium so that her works create different optical effects depending on lighting or as the viewer moves in space. Pat Passlof (1928–2011) was an abstract painter of the New York School who used repeated patterns and marks across the canvas to create dynamic rhythms, often suggesting abstracted landscapes. She drew upon experiences and memories, as noted by titles referring to people and places. She lived and worked in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and also spent time in the Shawangunk Mountain area of upstate New York, where the space and air of the mountain ridge influenced her painting. Colleen Herman (b. Baltimore, MD, 1982) is an artist whose richly colored, blooming abstractions reflect seasonal changes and natural growth. Pouring, scribbling, and dabbing paint with her fingers, Herman embraces a process that is highly intuitive and playful. Herman has spent time in Oaxaca and Mexico City, and now lives and works between New York City and the Hudson Valley. The artist takes inspiration from the landscapes of all four places, alternatively tranquil, vibrant, and frenetic. 

Some Histories — New York, NY

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Summer Games — East Hampton, NY

Memorial Day Opening — East Hampton, NY

Eric Firestone Gallery is pleased to announce that The Garage will re-open by appointment beginning Memorial Day Weekend. The Garage is the gallery’s sweeping 7,000 square-foot warehouse space at 62 Newtown Lane. The curation will rotate through the summer, with a “salon” installation combining historic material represented by the gallery, and younger generations of contemporary artists. Continuing to introduce new voices and establish connections with historically significant artists remains central to the gallery’s mission and its long-standing presence on Newtown Lane in East Hampton.

Expo Chicago — Chicago Convention Center — Chicago, IL

Loft Generation — Painting in New York, 1960’s—80’s

Loft Generation surveys painting in New York during the “pluralist” period of the 1960s–80s. Focusing on artists who worked in Manhattan’s expansive lofts, this show introduces the work of seven artists:

Vincent Baldassano, Judith Blum Reddy, Susan Fortgang, Regina Granne, Evelyn López de Guzmán, George Mingo, and Naoto Nakagawa, who are showing with the gallery for the first time in New York, alongside several gallery artists.

The artists were largely working in downtown Manhattan, in lofts that were raw but offered open, generous spaces and proximity to art materials and industrial materials that could be repurposed as experimental supplies. The artists in the exhibition come from diverse backgrounds, reflecting the art world’s increased openness to varied perspectives and the rise of alternative spaces in the 1960s and ‘70s.

An excerpt from the Press Release:

This theme of the interrupted grid comes through in other artists in the exhibition, like the work of Susan Fortgang (b. 1944). Fortgang’s 1970s paintings feature horizontal bands of color with insistent vertical drips. They declare the artist’s rhythm and process. These were such an exuberant departure from the grid associated with the Western painting tradition that John Perrault included one of these works in his landmark Pattern Painting show at P.S.1 in 1977. This exhibition brought broader attention to Pattern and Decoration to a wider audience, a movement both Miriam Schapiro (1923–2015) and Ned Smyth (b. 1948) are intimately associated with.

Excerpt from press release:

“This theme of the interrupted grid comes through in other artists in the exhibition, like the work of Susan Fortgang (b. 1944). Fortgang’s 1970s paintings feature horizontal bands of color with insistent vertical drips. They declare the artist’s rhythm and process. These were such an exuberant departure from the grid associated with the Western painting tradition that John Perrault included one of these works in his landmark Pattern Painting show at P.S.1 in 1977. This exhibition brought broader attention to Pattern and Decoration to a wider audience, a movement that both Miriam Schapiro (1923–2015) and Ned Smyth (b. 1948) are intimately associated with.”

A New York Minute — Eric Firestone Gallery

Eric Firestone Gallery is pleased to announce a six-week exhibition in West Palm Beach, FL opening February 1st. On view through March 23, A New York Minute is a rotating selection of work from the 1950s through the 1980s by significant American artists. The exhibition is a powerful presentation of a diverse group of artists—including many women and artists of color—working across abstraction and representation in the post-war period. The exhibition is presented in partnership with New Wave Art Wknd, a non-profit arts organization founded by Sarah Gavlak.

"We are thrilled to welcome Eric Firestone's important program to Palm Beach," says Sarah Gavlak. "His decades-long commitment to shedding light on underrepresented artists aligns perfectly with New Wave's ethos. It will help us advance our mission, which is to expand the dialogue around contemporary art and provide a platform to learn, discover, and grow as a community."

Since Eric Firestone Gallery opened in East Hampton in 2010, and on Great Jones Street in New York City in 2015, its mission has been to investigate the ever-evolving canon of post-war American art. In this short period, the gallery has re-introduced the art world to several major artists working in the 1950s through the ‘80s and placed their work in museums across the United States and globally. Several of these artists will be the subject of, or included in, major museum exhibitions over the next two years. A New York Minute will reflect the gallery’s program and mission. 

An excerpt from the Press Release:

Miriam Schapiro is widely known as a pioneer of the Women’s Art Movement and a leading force in American post-World War II art. One of Schapiro’s most significant, monumental paintings, will be on view in the Fall of 2024 at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, NY. A second generation of women abstractionists include Nina Yankowitz (b. 1946), Pat Lipsky (b. 1941), and Susan Fortgang (b. 1944). Lipsky made exuberant, fresh paintings associated with Lyrical Abstraction and Color Field painting. Yankowitz created daring, dynamic works: spraying mists of acrylic paint to produce atmospheric expanses and then hanging the unstretched canvases in loose soft folds that cascade down and across the wall. Yankowitz will be the subject of a retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL, in Spring 2025. 

Art Basel — Miami Beach Convention Center — Miami, FL