Salon 81
December 7, 2023 – January 27, 2024
81 Leonard Gallery is pleased to present Salon 81, featuring Janna Fournier, Cara London, Ruth McLaughlin, Nancy Pantirer, Sasha Silverstein, and Francine Tint. On view December 7th through January 27th, Salon 81 presents a selection of six women artists who have demonstrated a decades-long dialogue with painting and community.
As Tribeca becomes the new heart of Manhattan’s art scene, we thought it fitting to acknowledge our history in this beloved neighborhood. Gallery founder and featured artist Nancy Pantirer established her studio at 81 Leonard Street in 1996, 23 years before turning the street-facing side into the gallery as we know it. Back in the early 2000s, Pantirer used to host “salon” events, which brought together the downtown Manhattan arts community with an evening of performances and artwork hung salon-style. All were welcome.
Salon 81 is a nostalgic nod to this era and celebration of community, as ours has grown immensely since opening our doors to the public. Some of the artists featured have participated in Pantirer’s past Salons or were former members of the Tribeca Open Artist Studios Tour (T.O.A.S.T.), while others have more recently entered our circle. And while the works on view differ greatly from one another, the artists share a longstanding commitment to art as practice and the importance of creative conversation.
Cara London’s abstract paintings and prints bridge structure with free-spirited gesture. Her visual language relies on a departure from something recognizable, often an image or grid. Similarly, Sasha Silverstein’s paintings explore the relationship between conscious and unconscious decision making. Drawing upon old masters’ paintings, Silverstein ponders what is left unseen or where a story has room for reimagination. Also engaging with art historical tropes, Janna Fournier’s paintings of fridge interiors make use of registers and often allude to specific canonical works. The resulting images present scenes that at once appear voyeuristic and intimate.
Ruth McLaughlin’s watercolor paintings strive for moments of peace amidst chaos. Through tightly cropped compositions, McLaughlin simplifies natural elements to form and pattern. Nancy Pantirer’s work also makes use of natural elements, physically inserting scavenged tree branches into painting. Working with paper collage and paint, Pantirer plays with light, depth, and illusion. Francine Tint’s abstractions embody a similarly playful and spontaneous approach with swipes and swaths of paint varying in opacity and size. Layers upon layers present a rigorous investigation of color.
Salon 81 is open for viewing Thursday-Saturday, 12-6pm. A reception and evening of performances will be held on Saturday, January 20th, 6-9 pm.
Janna Fournier (b. 1955, WI) is a painter and photographer based between Manhattan and Big Sur, CA. She completed her BFA, Atlantic College of Art (now Savannah College of Art and Design) in 1977 and spent the next twenty years in New York City working on print, commercials, and films. In 1996 she became so inspired by the Picasso exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art that she immersed herself in painting, initially exploring portraiture and the figure. Her current work focuses on abstract, portraiture, and predominately on a series of open refrigerators exploring the intimate journey into these very personal food sanctuaries. Fournier’s paintings and photographs have become a part of collections and museums throughout the United States and Europe.
Cara London (b. 1961, Brooklyn, NY) is a New Jersey-based artist working primarily in painting and printmaking. She holds a BA Art History, Brandeis and MFA Sculpture, Parsons School of Design/NY Studio School, and she studied painting with John Adams Griefen. She has attended several residencies including the Triangle Artists’ Workshop, Vermont Studio School, Emma Lake, Leighton Foundation, and Chateau Orquevaux. She has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions across New York and New Jersey.
Ruth McLaughlin is a watercolor painter and printmaker working out of Long Island City, NY. She holds a BS in Psychology, Iowa State University and continued post-graduate studies in Art at the University of Arizona. She also studied watercolor painting under Richard Kaiser. She has exhibited work at venues including Blue Mountain Gallery, Washington Square East Windows, and LIC Open Arts. McLaughlin was an active member of the Tribeca Open Artist Studio Tour (T.O.A.ST.) and a board member from 2009 to 2014.
Nancy Pantirer (b. 1955, NJ) received a BFA from the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford and a MFA from Montclair State College. She further refined her craft through graduate coursework at Tufts University Museum School and Pratt Institute as well as studying under painters John Adams Griefen and Kikuo Saito. Her painting and sculpture have been exhibited throughout the country and can be found in collections such as the University of Hartford, as well as corporate and private collections. Her studio is located in Tribeca, NYC.
Sasha Silverstein attended Sarah Lawrence and then New York Studio School while earning an MFA in Sculpture from Parsons. John Adams Griefen was her mentor for decades. Silverstein spent many years as an artist model, taught in NYC public schools for 20 years as an art teacher and taught in art schools. She has also worked as an art therapist. Silverstein has exhibited in several solo and group shows in New York, Germany, Mexico, and Canada, and her work appears in various prestigious collections.
Francine Tint is a New York-based painter who has been a working artist since the early Seventies. Tint’s artistic career began as a successful costume designer and fashion stylist––working for David Bowie, Ridley Scott, and Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN), among others. Working as a stylist by day, and a painter by night, Tint developed her own method of large-scale, color-based painting. Tint’s work continues to be shown widely, both nationally and internationally and is held in the permanent collection of over 28 museums, including The Neuberger Museum of Art, The Heckscher Museum of Art, The Portland Museum of Art (among the Clement Greenberg Collection), and The Krannert Art Museum. Her work has been reviewed in publications including the Brooklyn Rail. Tint also conducts abstract painting workshops at The Art Students League of New York.
Image above: Francine Tint, Jaunty, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 51 x 50 in
