HUDSON, NY.- Robin Rice Gallery is all about collaboration. This collaborative spirit has been internalized behind-the-scenes. In addition to a cooperative process of curation, we also feel lucky to have Doug Meyer design and conceptualize the exhibition. Although the featured artists operate distinctly, their work is united by its investigation of the many angles of interface and environments through which relationships develop. Brought together, these three approaches invite viewers to form new connections, with the work, each other, and the community.

Ever since Robin Rice got her hands on her first camera at eleven years old, Rice’s work has spanned myriad continents, decades, and nightclubs. Originally starting out by sneaking into Pratt Institute’s darkroom to develop film with her art school friends, Rice has run the Robin Rice Gallery since 1990 in Manhattan’s West Village and has now expanded to an additional location in Hudson, NY. Rice’s work has captured everything from the vivacity and ethereal qualities of ‘80s New York’s underground disco scenes to the verdant landscapes of South America. Above all, her photos are always candid and dramatic. Rice was recently featured in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum on Studio 45, where she photographed her time dancing alongside Andy Warhol and Grace Jones.

SHANNON GREER
Born in the Ozarks and raised in 1970s New York, Greer started his project “Mr. Greer’s Neighborhood” during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to find human connection in a time where everyone was trapped behind masks and Plexiglas. Capturing the lives of those who stopped by the photographer’s Hudson Milliner Art Salon, Greer sought to make portraits “larger than life” that highlight the individual in the midst of the unfolding chaos. In this exhibition, he’s quoting mentor and photographer August Sander who documented the lives of early 20th century Germans—which included everyone from aristocrats to bohemians. Here, Greer looks to the locals of Hudson, NY for inspiration.

CHARLOTTA JANSSEN
Born in America to German immigrants, Janssen’s family moved to Iran and escaped during the 1979 revolution. Janssen attended the University of Arts in Berlin until deciding it wasn’t for her and travelled the world as a street musician and performance artist. In the ‘90s, she once again found the passion for painting and has been curating and making fine art ever since. For “Sitting”, Janssen draws from two series: “Freedom Riders & Bus Boycotters“ which portrays civil rights activists’ mug shots from the Jim Crow South and “Retro Collage” which brings a magnifying glass to male intimacy and camaraderie not otherwise on display in heterosexual settings.