The Rhonda Schaller Studio is pleased to present Paper, Paint, Clay: The Best of 2008, a show featuring works in three media by six artists.

The show is intended to display the visions of six artists, each at a different stage in their career. Each body of work acts independently of the others and has something relevant to say about the world we live in today. Paper, Paint, Clay is a fresh direction for the gallery, an exhibition designed around which medium an artist uses to broadcast his or her vision to their audience. The works are connected by shared medium rather than shared philosophy. Artist Tasja Keetman, based out of Brooklyn and Berlin, is well-known for her large-scale paper installations. Her piece, shutters+blinds was featured in the first show of 2007 Access: A Feminist Perspective at the Rhonda Schaller Studio. Back again to participate in the gallery’s first show of 2008, Keetman interprets Max Ehrmann’s prolific poem Desiderata into a larger than life skin suit crafted out of paper.

Dasha Ziborova, a Rhonda Schaller Studio represented artist, is an emergent voice whose work combines a macabre sense of humor with a fantastical graphic acumen. In Paper, Paint, Clay Ziborova uses her Barbie series to poke fun at societal ideals. Creating bizarre juxtapositions of perfection and terror, Ziborova works in her trademark paper and resin.

John Sumner, a Georgia-based photographer whose work over the last 30 years has been a lifelong study of the southern spirit, penetrates beyond class or social status to highlight that which is most human in all of us. He is represented by the Rhonda Schaller Studio, and is in the permanent collections of the Shite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame and The High Museum of Art Atlanta.

Randee Silv, an ArtLink artist with Rhonda Schaller Studio, has been seen at the gallery in Crossroads and Small Rays of Hope and Fragments of a Larger Idea: A Feast of Small Works. Silv, who has been painting for 20 years, is one of the strongest voices in abstract contemporary painting. Her works combine elements reminiscent of ancient cave paintings and hieroglyphs with a very modern vision. Silv’s broad strokes, layered surface, and enigmatic use of shape and line take the viewer on a complex and enlightening journey through the composition.

Andrew Kennedy, a New York based painter, is at heart a storyteller. His narrative paintings emulate the Japanese haiku, both in form and composition. Kennedy’s mix of line and detail evoke memory both in the content through his style and in the viewer, creating a conversation that is timeless. Kennedy’s work is very intimate, giving the viewer the sense of being a voyeur as we are allowed a glimpse into the stories of his subjects’ lives.

Rebecca Morton, the show’s only artist working in clay, has been seen at the Rhonda Schaller Studio in Live Free or Die and, more recently, Small Rays of Hope and Fragments of a Larger Idea: A Feast of Small Works. Morton creates unique, ethereal luminosity in porcelain. Her one of a kind sculptural vases evidence the work of a stunning, classical hand. The subtleties of the surface and shape of her work belie a strong voice and a singular vision.