Born in New York City
Nola Zirin received a bachelor's degree from New York University, where she studied painting with Milton Resnick and George Ortman. She also studied printmaking with Bob Blackburn and master printmaker, Donn Steward. She is represented in numerous public and corporate collections, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, the National Museum of Taiwan and the Library of Congress. Zirin's shows have been reviewed in Artnews (Cynthia Nadelman), Art in America (Cathy Lebowitz), Art News (Ruth Bass), Philadelphia Inquire (Miriam Seidel), The New York TImes (Helen Harrison and Phylis Braff) .
Artist Statement:
In my recent paintings, I explore abstract ideas that reference landscape and engage concepts of transience and transformation. Dark surfaces are layered and scraped away to reveal luminous undertones, lines spiral in space, and patterns emerge similar to photographic images. The resulting image conveys a sense of timeless space--worlds that are seen and worlds that are imagined. Using oil paint, spray enamel, and hand-cut stencils, I create an illusionary experience that draws in the viewer using the familiar, then alters formally held concepts, and ultimately creates a new visual experience that stimulates both the senses and the intellect.
Selected Public Collections
Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY
Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY
The Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
National Museum of Taiwan
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ Library of Congress, Washington, DC Colgate-Palmolive Company, New York Equitable Life Assurance Company, New York Goldome Bank, New York IBM Corporation, New York City and Paris Marine Midland Bank, New York MONY's Collection of Contemporary Prints, Purchase, NY Pepsico, New York Reader's Digest, Pleasantville, New York Surdna Foundation, New York
Books and Catalogues
2009 Virtual Vistas, essay by Jill Connor, June Kelly Gallery, New York
2003 Seeing the Light, essay by Linda Yablonsky, June Kelly Gallery, New York
Nola Zirin's Urban Abstractions, essay by Barry Schwabsky, June Kelly Gallery,
New York
1997 Evolving Forms, Emerging Faces, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum,
Acquisitions to the Rutgers Archive for Printmaking Studios, New Brunswick, NJ
1996 First Annual New York SoHo Biennial, Abraham Lubelski Gallery, New York
1995 59th Annual MidYear Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art Youngstown, OH
1994 Nola Zirin: Paintings, essay by Anna C. Noll, June Kelly Gallery, New York
1991 Nola Zirin: Paintings & Assemblage, essay by Judith Collischan Van Wagner
Reviews and Articles
2010 Whitehot Magazine, "Interviews Jill Conner on Core and Mantle" by Kofi Forsun
Nadelman, Cynthia, "Nola Zirin at June Kelly," ArtNews
2003 Fallon, Roberta, "Driven to Abstraction," PhiladelphiaWeekly.com
Seidel, Miriam, "Art: New York abstracts energetic with color," philly.com
Lebowitz, Cathy, "Nola Zirin at June Kelly," Art in America, November
2001 Harrison, Helen A., "More is More: Repetition Adds Dimensions to Patterns,"
Long Island Section, The New York Times, Sunday October 13
Braff, Phyllis, "When Artists Extend Invitations to Other Artists,
Long Island Section, The New York Times, Sunday, February 18
Lippincott, E. E., "Flushing Art Council's 3rd Biennial Exhibition, Queens Chronicle,
review,Thursday, February 22
2000 Cohen, Mark Daniel, "Nola Zirin: Urban Abstraction," Review, May 1
