Paint is Thicker than Water is an exhibit of a family of artists. Alan Neider and Joan Fitzsimmons, the parental artists, met in art school, Washington University, St. Louis. Further studies and their practice took them to Chicago where Alexis was born, and pursuit of careers in the art world brought them to the East Coast. Family conversations revolve around art and aesthetics; family trips around shows and museums. The three are each other’s toughest critics and fondest admirers. Yet there is a dialogue in their work that transcends the family bond. It is about color, gesture, movement, looseness, and the act of painting. Paint is Thicker than Water is a unique exhibit that illuminates the visual conversation between these three artists. “Throw that paint around!”

Throughout his forty-plus year career Alan Neider has constructed both two and three-dimensional surfaces as the substrate for painting and drawing. The forms may be objective, lamps, chairs, curtains, as often as non-objective. His work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including The Nancy Lurie Gallery, Chicago, Ill.; Henri Gallery, Washington, DC; Sarah Bowen Gallery, Williamsburg, NY; and ArtSpace, New Haven, CT. He has completed several Public Art Commissions including a free standing painting titled Lake Dance on top of Navy Pier, Chicago, Ill. He has been awarded a CT Commission on the Arts Grant for his lamp works and a Robert Rauschenberg Change Work Grant.

Joan Fitzsimmons’ photographic work addresses the significance of the quotidian. In her series, Small & Large Thoughts, a simple bowl of yogurt references the act of painting, suggesting the history of art. Ms. Fitzsimmons has exhibited nationally, internationally and online. She has traveled to Poland on a grant from Artslink, and, most recently, from The Kittredge Fund, where she performed in a trilogy of videos by the Warsaw artist Jacek Malinowski. Her work is in the permanent collections of The Brooklyn Museum of American Art; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT, as well as, various other private and public collections.

Alexis Neider is a NYC-based artist and teacher. In her most recent series, Cake Falls Apart, Alexis examines the performative nature of cooking. Alexis’ work has been exhibited at Atlantic Gallery, River Street Gallery, ArtSpace, Umbrella Arts, and Cheim and Read. Alexis was a Whitney Museum of American Art Education Fellow in the Whitney Teacher Exchange. She served on the Creativity Project Team at the Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum’s Learning Through the Arts Program and participated in a collaboration with the BMW Guggenheim Lab.