Von Lintel Gallery

Von Lintel Gallery is honored to announce Multispectral an exhibition by Canadian-American photographer Osceola Refetoff, known for his experimental and innovative use of infrared and pinhole photography to document realities that exist just beyond human perception. Multispectral is the artists third solo show at Von Lintel Gallery.   A graduate of New York University’s Master of Fine Arts Film Program, Refetoff’s motion picture background informs a distinctly cinematic approach to constructing visual narratives that explore both time and space. Key to this practice is the artist’s old-school commitment to capturing his scenes “in-camera,” fusing modern and historical photographic processes.   Analog lens filters are used in tandem with modern cameras and printing processes to capture bright and vivid realities that exist just beyond what is seen by human eyes. Additionally, a pinhole attachment is employed to create a blurry and dreamlike aesthetic.   The series Chromatopia presents arresting multispectral color images of iconic Palm Springs neighborhoods and their famous architecture and landscape design. The surreal hues are produced in camera using vintage filters to combine infrared and visual spectrum light.   Black and white infrared photographs from Flirting with Disaster are framed through the windshield while travelling through in the California desert. In this unique take on the American road, Refetoff employs longer shutter speeds to blur foreground elements, conveying a sense of forward movement that draws the viewer into the frame.   Refetoff’s original color “Kinematic” exposure technique in The Persistence of Being series is a variation of his pinhole exposure practice, more intentionally focused on the role of color, motion and movement. The result is a record of a multi-second journey with the camera.   Refetoff’s new monograph, Magic & Realism, published by the Museum of Art & History in Lancaster, CA, will be available at the gallery.   For questions and additional material please email:  gallery@vonlintel.com

Von Lintel Gallery is pleased to announce ‘Journeys of Belonging’, a series of portraits on canvas, which marks the artists second exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition is a powerful narrative that reflects on the resilience and courage of immigrants, showcasing their personal stories through a diverse image. When Adewumi first migrated to America in 2016, he never considered himself “black” since he came from a country where the idea of skin color was never reflective of his identity. In Nigeria, ethnicity, religion, social class, and gender defines who a person is in society. To be called black had never been part of the conversation, since the social construct in Nigeria was not based on race. He would travel to any part of the country without worrying that someone was going to judge him or not afford him the imperative opportunity based on his skin color. Each portrait captures a range of emotions—hope, determination, uncertainty, and resilience—reflecting the unique challenges African immigrants face as they navigate a new cultural landscape while staying connected to their roots. In his work the facial expressions are central to the narrative, especially the eyes, which convey deep emotions such as loss, pride, and a fierce determination. The postures in the portraits further emphasize this tension, expressing strength or vulnerability, symbolizing the balance between striving for success and confronting adversity. Adewumi’s use of collage featuring American newsprint and text, literally highlights the complexities of the society immigrants must adapt to. Adewumi lives and works in Arkansas. He studied Computer Science at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State Nigeria and earned a B.Sc. degree in 2010. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally since 2012.

Von Lintel Gallery is pleased to present Wallflower, an exhibition of new paintings by Catherine Howe. It is the artist's fifth solo show with the gallery. The many-hued paintings introduced here represent an exuberant and visceral catharsis, punctuating the end of a period of extreme isolation for the artist. After the shared solitude of the Covid outbreak, she was further sidelined by a diagnosis of blood cancer. Excluded from socializing while undergoing treatment, she spent three years experimenting freely in the studio and garden that surrounds it with her silent companions: the local flora and fauna. The results are a dazzling array of flower figures, which are non-existent in nature and spring wholly from the painter herself. They move nimbly across the canvas in lush, variegated brushstrokes and whirl on iridescent and mysteriously luminous fields. Nothing stands still. Color and sheen shift dramatically as the light moves within the paintings’ embrace. Howe’s forms project the cloud-like innocence that we associate with a child’s imagination; they are freehand and free-willed, the creations of a brush liberated to do whatever it wants, to turn any smooth surface into a riotous little Eden.- Alexi Worth Catherine Howe has exhibited throughout the United States and Europe for over thirty years, including shows at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, MoMA PS 1 in New York, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. She lives and works in the Hudson Valley, NY. For additional information or visual material please contact the gallery by email at gallery@vonlintel.com.