New New New Abstraction is a group show featuring artists working in ways that define the current modes of abstract art now. The paintings and drawings in the exhibition are bold, strong and lush, defined by an honest dedication the the craft and structures of both Minimal and Expressionist abstract modes of making. Many of the works use an overwhelming sense of color as a means of activating space on the picture plane, while others deploy softer or monochrome approaches. Together the work sparks conversations about what it means to make abstract art in this current contemporary art moment.

Maya Hayuk was born in Baltimore in 1969. She earned a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 1991 and has studied at the University of Odessa, Odessa, Ukraine, and at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine. Hayuk’s work has been the subject of one-person exhibitions and commissions at venues including Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, the Netherlands (2012); Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, New York (2011); the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro (2011); MU, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (2010); Centro Cultural Matucana 100, Santiago, Chile (2009); the Democratic National Convention, Denver (2008); and Monster Island, Brooklyn (2005–11). Her work has been included in group exhibitions such as Streetopia, Luggage Store, San Francisco (2012); Black Light & Outer Space, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn (2011); Rojo Nova, Museum of Image and Sound, São Paulo, Brazil (2010); Contemporary Art 2010, Ukrainian Institute of America, New York (2010); L’art modeste sous les bombes, Musée International des Arts Modestes, Sète, France (2007); and The Zine Unbound: Kults, Werewolves, and Sarcastic Hippies, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (2005). Hayuk has curated numerous exhibitions and is a member of the Barnstormers collective. She lives in Brooklyn.

Alicia McCarthy was born in 1969, and lives and works in San Francisco. She received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1994, and also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the New York Studio School. In 2007, she received an MFA from the University of California, Berkeley. Her work has been exhibited in venues including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and The Luggage Store in San Francisco; and Deitch Projects and RARE Gallery in New York. Honors include an artist residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts and a 2013 Artadia Award. McCarthy is represented by Jack Hanley Gallery, New York.

Claire Colette was born in France and came to California as a child. She is currently living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she recently completed her MFA at Mills College. She has been an artist-in-residence at School of Visual Arts, New York and Root Division. Colette’s work has been exhibited in Charleston, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco, including Stephen Wirtz Gallery, Southern Exposure, Guerrero Gallery, and Root Division. She is the 2013 winner of the Jay DeFeo MFA Prize at Mills College. Her work is in the collection of the De Young Museum in San Francisco.

Desirée Holman is a artist based in Oakland, California. Her multi-sensory work positions theatrical tools, like costumes or props, in settings that illuminate ideas of identity, knowledge, and the complexities of the human psyche. Holman utilizes references to popular culture as well as subcultures in order to explore concepts around personal life experiences and how we interpret visual culture. In this space, the artist’s work reveals a complex dialogue about truth and the experience of the ‘real’ world. Holman holds a Masters degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Earning critical acclaim for her work, Holman was awarded a San Francisco Modern Museum of Art SECA award in 2008 and in 2007 the Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue award. Solo exhibitions of her work include the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and the Berkeley Art Museum’s MATRIX program. International exhibitions of Holman’s work include the Sao Paulo Museum of Modern Art, Hessel Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Milan’s BnD, and Toronto’s YYZ. Reviews of Holman’s work appeared in numerous publications including Artforum, Los Angeles Times, NY Arts, Artillery, San Francisco Chronicle and Artweek. She is represented by Jessica Silverman Gallery in San Francisco, CA.

Bridget Klappert is an emerging Los Angeles artist interested in all things patterns. Her delicate works on paper, whether cut layers or pen and ink, reference fractal patterns found in nature, camouflage prints on animals or the mathematical process associated with Renaissance architecture.

Alia Penner is an artist with unquestionable style. Her identity is part of her work in the best way, in that there is no separation between art and life. Her work is scattered all around L.A., from her loopy ’70s-inspired Cinefamily posters to her work designing t-shirt prints for Shepard Fairey’s company, Obey. She was recently commissioned by the Andy Warhol Foundation and Diane Von Furstenberg for a video campaign. But she’s also become an online style darling for her hippie aesthetics and kooky collection of vintage dresses. This isn’t surprising, given that Penner comes from the bohemian enclave of Topanga Canyon, and spent her childhood dreaming about bright, psychedelic color. Her father was a 3D cinematographer and the two hope to collaborate on an important project in the future. Recently, the laid-back Penner’s stylish, retro illustrations have taken her into the epicenter of the very un-laid-back world of fashion. She’s been set designing and photographing for cult indie fashion magazine Lula, worked with model Erin Wasson and Missoni among others, and just came back from a trip to Paris, where she did a collaboration with Colette, the Parisian dictator of cool. Penner mixes fashion, music, art and pop culture beautifully, creating a new identity of the successful bohemian.

About the Curator: Jenny Sharaf is an artist and also the founder of Gallery Daily, which curates relationships between art and tech.