Ojo Ayotunde

Leonard Baby was born in 1996 and grew up in Manitou Springs, Colorado. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He has a current show at Half Gallery in LA called “LA, Baby” and has shown work with Andrew Edlin Gallery in NYC, Carl Kostyal Gallery in Milan, The Artist Room in London Pamela Salisbury Gallery in Hudson, NY, Kutlesa Gallery in Switzerland, The Artist Room in London, UK, and The Lodge in LA.

Rudy has a show up and we are releasing this episode for 2016 on the occasion. KATES-FERRI PROJECTS is delighted to present Rudy Shepherd's first solo exhibition with the gallery, THE GOLDEN AGE, from April 3 to May 5, 2024, with a reception on Friday, April 5, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at their 561 Grand Street space. This collection of acrylic on canvas paintings evolves from Shepherd's ongoing portrait series and delves into the visual culture of the golden age of hip-hop in the 1980s and 1990s, a period of tremendous innovation and stylistic experimentation in the genre. The artist renders intricate portraits of legendary musicians from iconic publicity photos and album covers, crafting massive 3' by 4' and 4' by 4' works that display the bravado and opulence of hip-hop while also interrogating it, prompting the viewer to reflect on the many meanings embedded in hip-hop imagery and music. Rudy Shepherd received a BS in Biology and Studio Art from Wake Forest University and an MFA in Sculpture from the School of Art Institute of Chicago. He has been in solo exhibitions at Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, CT, Latchkey Gallery, NY, Mixed Greens Gallery, NY, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY, Regina Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA and group exhibitions at MoMA PS1, NY, The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY, Bronx Museum of Art, NY, Art in General, NY, Triple Candie, NY, Socrates Sculpture Park, NY, Cheekwood Museum of Art, TN, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, CT, Southeastern Center of Contemporary Art, NC, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL, Tart Gallery, San Francisco, CA and Analix Forever Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland. He has been awarded Artist in Residence at PS1 National/International Studio Program, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY, Artist in Residence Visual + Harlem, Jacob Lawrence Institute for the Visual Arts, New York, N, Emerging Artist Fellowship, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY, Artist in Residence, Location One, NY, Process Space Artist in Residence Program Governors Island, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY. He has done public art projects on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, Penn State University, PA at Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY, First Street Green Art Park, New York, NY and the Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA in 2015 and in Harlem in collaboration with the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Samantha Thomas (b. 1980, McAllen, Texas) received her BFA from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles/New York; LAXART, Los Angeles, CA; Maccarone Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; and Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY. Her work has been covered by the LA Times, the Huffington Post, Wall street International, Art in America, W, Architectual Digest, T Magazine and many more. Samantha lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Roy Dowell (b. 1951 in Bronxville, NY) received his Master of Fine Arts and his Bachelor of Arts from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA and studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA.  Roy has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at The Landing, Los Angeles, CA; Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; Bolsky Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA; as-is.la, Los Angeles, CA; 1969 Gallery, New York, NY; Tif Sigfrids Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Proxy Paris @Galerie Ygrec, Paris, France; and James Harris Gallery, Seattle, WA.  His work has been included in institutional group exhibitions at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO; Centro Cultural del México Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Musée d’art moderne et d’art contemporain, Nice, France; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, and elsewhere.  Roy’s work may be found in the collections of the Berkeley Art Museum the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art among others.  He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and Mexico City, Mexico.

The vibrant style Ali Smith has brought to her writing and photography—featured regularly in The New York Times, The Guardian, and other publications internationally—was forged in New York’s underground music scene where she played bass in the seminal punk / blues / avant-garde band, Speedball Baby. After touring worldwide and recording several albums, Ali released two books of photography about women’s lives. The first, Laws of the Bandit Queens, led to a feature on OWN, Oprah Winfrey’s television network. The second, Momma Love: How the Mother Half Lives, won two International Book Awards, was praised by The New York Times, and Gloria Steinem called it “a gift to moms.” Since its release in January, 2024, Ali’s memoir The Ballad of Speedball Baby has garnished much critical acclaim and impassioned reader responses, reached #1 on Amazon, and led (amongst other things) to a BBC Sounds interview. Find out more at AliSmith.com , @mommaloveAli on Instagram and Ali Smith Photo on FB.

Brian Calvin b.1969 Lives and works in Ojai, CA.
Calvin studied at the University of California, Berkeley and at The Art Institute of Chicago. He received the California Arts Council Fellowship and an art residency from Art Production Fund, Giverny, France. Calvin has exhibited at Anton Kern Gallery, New York; Corvi Mora, London; Cabinet, Milan; Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels; Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago; Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium; Le Consortium, Dijon, France; Marc Foxx, Los Angeles, CA; and Gallery Side 2, Tokyo. Among his group exhibitions are at Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon; Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo; Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, among other places. His work is included in the collections of the Aïshti Foundation, Beirut; DePaul Art Museum, Chicago; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA. He has a show up now at Anton Kern Gallery, check it out!

Ojo Ayotunde b. 1995, Lagos, Nigeria 
Lives and works in Lagos Ayotunde graduated with a degree in Graphic Design from Yaba College of Technology in 2018. He worked as a junior art director with Rosabel Advertising for a year and a half after which he decided to focus on his practice as a full-time studio artist. Sound & Vision is sponsored by Golden Artist Colors, Fulcrum Coffee and the New York Studio School.

Stuart Snoddy was born inHonduras and lives and works in Indianapolis, IN. He holds an MFA from Northern Illinois University and a BFA from the Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis. Stuart has had shown his work at Massey Klein, Edington Gallery, Future Fair, Tyger Tyger Gallery, Cat Head Press, Farmer Family Gallery at Ohio State, Trestle Gallery and many others. He has received a Harrison Center for the Arts Award, an Atlantic Center Master Artist-In-Residence Award, an Oxbow Fellowship and others. His work has been covered in Juxtapoz, Artmaze, New American Paintings, Blissmag and others.

Yuan Fang (b. 1996, Shenzhen, China) is an artist who lives and works in New York. She graduated from the Visual and Critical Studies Program at the School of Visual Arts in 2019 and received Rhodes Family Award for Outstanding Achievement and several scholarships. She received her MFA from the same institution in 2022.  Her works have been acquired by museums, institutions, and collections around the world, including ICA Miami, Lafayette Anticipations, The Flag Art Foundation, Long Museum, Pond Society, Green Family Art Foundation, He Art Museum, Asymmetry Art Foundation, Song Art Museum, Green Rapids Art Museum, Mint Museum, Inima de Paula Museum, and Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. She is having a solo show at the Long Museum in Shanghai as the youngest artist ever who holds a show there until March 24th, and will open her first solo exhibition in the UK at Skarstedt Gallery during London Gallery Weekend this May.

Ryan Steadman was born in 1974 in Greenville, SC, and lives and works in Delhi, NY. He has shown his work at galleries such as Karma in New York, NY; Halsey McKay Gallery in Brooklyn & East Hampton, NY; Nathalie Karg Gallery in New York, NY; and others. He earned his BFA from the University of Georgia in Athens, GA, and his MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. His current show Real Ones is up at Halsey McKay Gallery in Greenpoint until March 17th.