From the Artist:

I begin each painting with a research process where I learn about the space and collect images from online, books, or sometimes from photos I take. I try to find a way to open up or change the space so it becomes something new. Something closer to how I feel about it or imagine the space to be. All the little paintings, sculptures, and furniture within the painting come from the actual collection and become the animated elements in an otherwise empty space. Some of the paintings in this show feel more empty and breathless and others feel very alive and playful. I think they oscilate between those two poles.

In my work there's always been a tension between real life and the imagined. How the imaginary and the real relate to one another. Using places that are fixed and exist in the world in a certain way helps me to draw attention to this tension. The way our emotions and ideas about a space may influence the way we see it. But also how when we visit these historic places we can share in the experience. We are given glimpses of these spaces during visiting hours when they are at their best but there are other moments we don't get to see or experience within these places.
~ Gretchen Scherer

About the Artist:

Gretchen Scherer (b. 1979, Indianapolis, IN) received an MFA from Hunter College, NY and a BFA from The University of Illinois at Chicago, IL. She is the recipient of a Graf travel grant to Berlin and has completed residencies at Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting, ME and Vermont Studio Center. Her work has recently been exhibited at Taymour Grahne, London and Gowen Contemporary, Switzerland, co-curated by Rachel Cole. Scherer exhibited a solo exhibition at Monya Rowe Gallery in 2025, and was included in a two-person exhibition with Anne Buckwalter, also at Monya Rowe Gallery. Scherer's work was highlighted in Harper's Bazaar Latin Art Issue in "Artists to Follow in 2022," and in New York Magazine by Jerry Saltz in "The Best Art Shows of 2021." The artist lives and works in West Creek, NJ and Brooklyn, NY.

CV:

Education

2006 MFA, Hunter College, New York, NY

2006 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME

2003 BFA Studio Arts, The University of Illinois at Chicago

1997-98 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Exhibitions

2024 Seeking An Exit, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, Solo Show

2024 Folk Modern, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, Group Show

2024 Something Woman This Way Comes, Patricia Low Contemporary, Gstaad, Switzerland, Group Show

2023 After Visiting Hours, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, Solo Show

2023 Works on Paper, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, Group Show

2023 Of A Place, Taymour Grahne Projects, London, U.K., Solo Show

2022 REVIVAL I - XVIIIe siècle, Gowen Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland,

Co-curated by Rachel Cole Sherr and Laura Gowen, Group Show

2022 Sometimes Light, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, Solo Show

2021 Dual Hearts and Empty Halls, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, Two Person Show

2021 The Bedroom Show, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, Group Show

2020 Interiors: hello from the living room, 1969 Gallery, New York, Group Show

2020 Outside Touch, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, Group Show

2020 Love Letters, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, Solo Show

2018 Between The Walls, Tillou Fine Art, New York, Group Show

2018 Watch Me Burn, Evening Hours, New York, Group Show

2017 Painting Everyday III, Spoonbill Studio, New York, Solo Show

2017 Once I Had This Dream, ART 3/Silas Von Morisse Gallery, New York, Solo Show

2016 Back In A Moment, C. Grimaldis Projects, Baltimore, Two Person Show

2016 Postcard from New York-Part 1, Anna Marra Contemporanea, Rome, Group Show

2016 Gretchen Scherer: Places I Have Never Been, ART 3/Silas Von Morisse Gallery, New York, Solo Show

2015 2015:1947, Equity Gallery, New York, Group Show

2015 Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, Firework Gallery, New York, Group Show

2015 We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Evening Hours, New York, Group Show

2015 Armin Volckers, Gretchen Scherer, Galerie Lake, Oldenburg, Germany, Two Person Show

2015 Fractured Atlas, Storefront Ten Eyck, New York, Group Show

2014 Not a Force But a Curvature, Novella Gallery, New York, Group Show

2013 Governors Island Art Fair, Governors Island, New York

2011 Tide Pool, Sarah Meltzer Gallery/Projects, New York, Group Show

2010 Second Story, Pepin Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, Group Show

2010 Governors Island Art Fair, Governors Island, New York

2009 Everybody, Envoy Gallery, New York, Group Show Canteen Reading Room, Envoy Gallery, Pulse Art Fair, Miami, Group Show

2009 Artist Teacher Show, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York, Group Show

2007 With Teeth, Priska C. Juschka Gallery, New York, Group Show

2005 Greater Brooklyn, CRG Gallery, New York, Group Show

2004 Daydreaming, Slight Alienation, Cruel Kindness and Detached Sentimentality, Joymore Gallery, New York, Group Show

2003 Plastic Fantastic, 1926 Gallery, Chicago, IL. Group Show

2002 Bello Foundation, Mars Gallery, Chicago, IL. Group Show

Residencies

2015 Vermont Studio Center Residency

2013 Governors Island Art Fair Residency

2011 Governors Island Art Fair Residency

Reviews

2024 Colossal, " In ‘Seeking an Exit,’ Gretchen Scherer Escapes to Grand Homes and Galleries of the Past," Kate Mothes, October 17th, 2024

2022 Stir World, "Conduits of Time, 'Of a Place' by Gretchen Scherer at Taymour Grahne Projects", Divya Menon, April 15, 2023

2022 Colossal, “Meander the Halls of Europe’s Grandest Homes in Gretchen Scherer’s

Paradisiacal Paintings,” Kate Mothes, February 23

2022 Hyperallergic, Reviews, "Messing with Museums and Our Desire for Order", John Yau, March 24, 2022

2022 Artnet, "Editors’ Picks: 12 Events for Your Art Calendar This Week", Katie White, February 22, 2022

2021 New York Magazine, "The Best New York Art Shows of 2021", Jerry Saltz, December 20, 2021

2021 Artnet, Editors' Picks, "“Dual Hearts and Empty Halls: Anne Buckwalter and Gretchen Scherer” at Monya Rowe Gallery, New York", Katie White, February 23, 2021

2020 Whitehot Magazine, "Interiors at 1969 Gallery", Alfred Rosenbluth, November 2020

2020 Elephant Magazine,"Gretchen Scherer’s Paintings of Empty Museums Feel Oddly Prophetic",Emily Gosling, May 15, 2020

2020 AS|Magazine, "Twist and Fade", Jill Conner, April 14,2020

2017 The Paris Review, "Once I Had This Dream," by Dan Piepenbring, June 20

2017 Blouin Modern Painters, “Landscapes Into Art,” by Noah Dillon, March/April

2016 Corriere Della Sera, “Postcard from New York, figurative painting from the Big Apple,” by Edoardo Sassi, June 13

2015 The New York Times, “Artist Equity to Reopen a Gallery on the Lower East Side,” by Melena Ryzik, October 16

2015 Two Coats of Paint, “There is a lot of very good painting going on these days,” by John Yau, January 28

2013 ArtFCity, “Why you should go to Governors Island Art Fair,” by Gabriela Vainsencher, September 16

2005 The New York Times, "Art in Review; Greater Brooklyn," by Roberta Smith, July 8

Publications/Interviews

2024 Juxtapoz, "Gretchen Scherer: Seeking An Exit," October 17, 2024

2024 Artnet, "A Neo-Rococo Movement Is On the Rise—But What Does It All Mean?" Katie White August 16, 2024

2024 Juxtapoz Magazine, "If Rooms Could Talk," Gwynned Vitello, Spring 2024

2023 Juxtapoz, "Gretchen Scherer Goes After Visiting Hours at Richard Heller Gallery", Santa Monica, November 1, 2023

2022 Juxtapoz, "Sometimes, Light: Gretchen Scherer's Interiors Tell Stories", Editors, March 17, 2022

2021 Harper's Bazaar Latin America, Special Art Issue, "Artists to Follow in 2022", Maria Rivera, November 2021

2020 New American Paintings, "Introducing 60 Exceptional Artists", Jerry Saltz, 146, September 2020

2020 Harper’s Magazine, "Gretchen Scherer at MonyaRowe Gallery", Editors, Print Edition, May 1, 2020

2018 Art Maze Mag, Winter Edition, Issue 6, pg. 86-87

2017 Studio Visit Magazine, Volume 39, pg. 161 and back cover

2017 BTR Today, "Art Uncovered Podcast with Kimberly Ruth: Gretchen Scherer," August

2016 Refigural Magazine, “A Light Coming From A Different Part of the House,” Elspeth Walker in Conversation with Gretchen Scherer and Ylva Ceder, December

2016 RAI Cultura Arte, "The interiors of Gretchen Scherer," November

2010 XLR8R Magazine, "New York State of Mind: Seven Gotham City visual artists on the rise for 2010." by Vivian Host, December

2007 Whistle, curated by Sarah Cain, published by San Francisco Museum of Art, March, pg. 31

Awards

2018 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Painting

2015 Nominee Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant

2014 Vermont Studio Center Fellowship

2006 Skowhegan Endowment for Scholarship Fellowship

2005 Graf Travel Grant, Berlin, Hunter College

2003 School Faculty Prize in fine art, University of Illinois at Chicago

2002 John E. Walley Memorial Scholarship, University of Illinois at Chicago

2002 Talent Tuition Waiver, University of Illinois at Chicago

2002 John Richardson Sr. Award in painting, University of Illinois at Chicago

Gretchen Scherer

READING THE ROOMS2/21 - 3/21

READING THE ROOMS

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