Lisa STEFANELLI AND JOE AMRHEIN - "JAYWALKING"

Jaywalking

Lisa Stefanelli

Joe Amrhein

November 1–29, 2025

Opening Reception, Saturday, 11/1, from 6 to 9 pm

The title of the show, Jaywalking, references an attitude of going against the grain, taking chances, or breaking the rules. This isn’t anything new for most artists. In mounting a two-person exhibition, we’re trying to draw parallels between ideas and objects to support further understanding.

 The sinuous and gestural mark-making in Stefanelli’s paintings, such as “Lust for Life,” reference calligraphy and tagging, with seductive surfaces, some matte, others highly polished with an auto body finish. The viewers’ eyes follow the lines traversing the surfaces. “My art is about our attempts to coexist within the complexities we live in. Relationships with other people, other communities, nations, mentalities and the peace and conflict within these things. In my art, this can be quite literal. For instance, the trajectories of lines might imply the path an individual is on, and how it intersects with other lives, and other paths, all individual, but contributing to one entire dialogue, one complexity, or one…”  compelling piece of art. (Lisa Stefanelli, Tribeca Citizen interview) In “Fury” and “Rampage” she incorporates text directly onto her imagery via found metal automobile nameplates, the words resonating with each image. The contrasting red and blue color scheme exemplifies the highly charged energy of a political rally. “The work is elaborate and complicated while chasing a minimalist vocabulary.” (Stefanelli)

Joe Amrhein’s work combines different disciplines. Physically it comes out of painting, but the context is both conceptual and literal. Using text and font icons as his primary subject, he works with ideas around identity, translation, interpretation and misinterpretation of language. In some of the smaller works the letters of singular words are deconstructed into individual letters layered top to bottom, as in “Ubiquitous” and “Idiocracy.” “I think I like being a language anarchist subverting the word into a target structure rather than its logical linear path.” In layering the letters the nature of the letter forms and font styles creates unique compositions. “Forgery (Signature as Identity)” consists of a series of signatures, ranging from those of notable and historical to current and familiar figures, painted in varying sign-painting styles and techniques. The singularity of each signature is a marker so unique that it is used to this day for identification, as a fingerprint is. Signatures are by their very nature unique fonts. The salon style presentation and random selections of materials emphasize the seemingly arbitrary selection of signatures presented. “Bonfire: Malfeasance” consists of words painting on found sticks built up into a bonfire composition. It references people, people in power, and power structures.

Lisa Stefanelli lives and works in Easton, Pennsylvania and New York City. She received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work is included in the collections of the United States Department of State, Wash. DC, The West Collection, Oaks, PA, The Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, LA, CA, The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, MA, The Mondstudio Collection at the Kunstmuseum, Berne, Switzerland, and The Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY, and has been exhibited recently in Los Angeles, CA, Denver, CO, and New York City. She is also an arts educator and currently teaches at The Baum School of Art in Allentown, PA.

 Joe Amrhein lives and works in Brooklyn, NY and Easton, Pennsylvania. His work has been exhibited in the US and Europe in solo and group exhibitions including at Postmasters Gallery (NY, NY), Jochen Hempel Galerie (Berlin and Leipzig, Germany), Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg (Wolfsburg, Germany), Leytonstone Center for Contemporary Art (Leytonstone, UK), and The Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College (Collegeville, PA). He is also founder and co-director of Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.