Adam Scott Umbach und Molly Goldfarb - New York City

Adam Scott Umbach und Molly Goldfarb – Clear Sky

For Adam Scott Umbach, painting is about lightness while he celebrates every single brushstroke with care. Born in Chicago in 1986, his love of painting was shaped by the Art Institute, with its magnificent collection and delightful approach to modern and contemporary art. With this background, he is welcomed in New York, where the well-informed art audience loves new impulses and forms of expression. With works inspired by Impressionism and Expressionism, his art quickly finds recognition here, not only because he playfully references Pop Art and graffiti, but above all because the trained eye of the New York art lover recognizes and admires his painterly and creative perfection. From now on, Umbach plays with this—sometimes even by occasionally throwing a wrench into his own work and using his left hand to reveal the gap from perfection. Figures such as the rubber duck, the great white shark, boats, the flower picker, and the blue lobster find themselves in his paintings in rather unlikely situations. When one also considers that the chance of a lobster being born as a blue lobster is exactly 1 in 1 million, Surrealism comes to mind—a movement that continues to enchant us, particularly in painting. Taking stock of the various elements of Umbacher’s painting, it is easy to see that a true jack-of-all-trades must be at work here.

He began his career with minimalist paintings, experimenting with abstraction, geometric painting, and Expressionism. It is clear that his surroundings have a significant influence on him. On the one hand, there is the maritime world, with colors reminiscent of trips to the sea; on the other hand, graffiti and architectural elements are reflected in his New York paintings. One could describe this as biographical painting; he repeats his favorite subjects in different works and in ever-changing contexts. This personal and almost familiar iconography allows the viewer to rediscover their own memories and experiences in the paintings. One of his most recent works is a water lily painting. I still remember exactly how I stood in front of a water lily painting by Monet at the New York Museum of Modern Art together with Salomé in 1983. Umbach’s water lily pond has since become acquainted with Pop Art and graffiti. It is more youthful, lighter, than Monet’s melancholic water lilies from his late work. At the same time, I delight in the sight of Umbach’s water lilies because they evoke the same feelings in me as they did Monet's waterlillies years ago.

Molly Goldfarb, who works in Lower Manhattan, is exhibiting new works in a solo show for the second time. Her aesthetic, which combines Pop with Punk and is colorful in both appearofabstract portraits, otherworldly "scenes" placed against the backdrop of the contemporary United States. Word art and visual notes from her travels, nature and her home environment. Her work is held together by a bold, vibrant color palette and flat style that brings her many visual inspirations into a single level and dialogue, creating a combinative, vibrant "world" within herself. Since first showcasing her artwork publicly at various pop-up events across New York City and on social media in 2014, Molly has participated in a variety of prestigious gallery exhibitions, art fairs and charity auctions (both in-person and virtual). In May 2022, she celebrated the installation of her largest commission to date: an approximately 11-foot-by-9-foot digital representation of one of her earliest marker portraits, titled "Made Up," which is now on display at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, where it will remain as part of the hotel's permanent collection. Her latest custom portrait painting, "Double Take," was recently highlighted in Aqua Art Miami's 2023 special exhibition, "Art in Public Space." Both artists will travel to the exhibition opening and we would be very happy to introduce them to you.