Kari Cholnoky

Ok last show post and then I’ll stop spamming :) This is a two-sided industrial cantilever material rack made out of steel. It has been modified from its original form to accommodate the proportions of the paintings that rest on its rack in place of the rebar and other material that had been stored on it previously. For the last three exhibitions at the gallery, I’ve used the opportunity of exhibition space to experiment with showing free standing paintings. In this case, the rack holds five paintings – each one is leaning, ready to be deployed. The paintings are back to back in a kind of defensive posture, and the rack itself is an active agent – the two forms at the top of the rack are mechanisms of growth and connection. One is reminiscent of a roof antenna, the other of a Witches Broom, which is a snarled growth in plants caused by a parasite or fungus. Tucked into the sides of the uprights are a couple objects — one is a cast bronze maquette of the first double sided rack I had envisioned in 2019, the other is an alabaster form of two hole-less masturbators nuzzled up against each other. It was a dream to be able to show this piece. Thank you everyone from the bottom of my heart for seeing the show 🥲❤️.

This head’s form is influenced by a 16th century close-helmet that I saw at the Wallace Collection in London a couple years ago. I love these helmets with forms on the face that are designed to deflect incoming projectiles or shrapnel or points. They remind me a lot of the shapes of snow plows and shields, all designed to take incoming material and direct it away. The face’s features except the ears are covered – there’s something that’s lost when we barricade ourselves out of fear and in the name of protection – we lose our sense of reality. This is a kind of acknowledgement of myself, fearful but curious. I used sheets of lead in this work and in Leech for the same reason – it’s a protective coating material and it’s also poisonous to us. Often our instincts as a species at self preservation are also the cause of our destruction.

This painting, Compressor, is one of two in the show that feature a smaller scale exploration of stacked paintings on a steel support structure. There is actually an image of the cantilever display rack from Center of Gravity stretched across the bottom form of this painting. The stacked format came about through the natural conditions of the studio. Due to the physical reality of the paintings, it’s difficult to store them the way many painters do — lined up like books on a shelf. I generally have to store the work on the wall, and use the verticality of the space to “stack” them up the wall. Over the years, I have begun to see the relationships that form between certain works, and there began a fluid connection to my longstanding interest in tampering with the display of paintings.

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to bask in the glory of Joe, Dante and Reg and their powerful work. Suddenly it’s the last week of my show ! Last call May 9th. In honor of the sonic blasting last night I have these two stone heads from my show — a material I have found fascinating, taking my interests in compaction, layering, pressure, time, deformation and transformation to a new level.

The two smallest pieces in the show, Caterpillar and End Twilight, are both made from a scaffolding of 1/8” welding rod. I love working at this scale, and with the idea of compressing ideas and references from a huge scale into these small, insidious forms.

This piece is the namesake for the show — Leech. Inspired initially by my love of steel helmets, with their structures influenced by a desire to deflect hostile acts. As I worked on this head, which sits just higher than my own height, I began adding actual paintings from the walls of the studio to the head as another layer of deflector shield. Two in progress paintings were added to the back, and then two to the front. Over time, the piece became more and more a self-portrait, reflecting my relationship to the work – using it as a proxy for myself in space; using it as a kind of protective barrier between me and my imagined viewer, anticipating approach from multiple angles. Some combination of fear, antagonism, and fragility.

Free sonic obliteration event April 30th on the occasion of my show at @nicellebeauchene featuring Reg Bloor @reg_bloor , Ornament @joeedenardo , and Dante Lentz @electromedia666 you do NOT WANT TO MISS THESE THREE SHREDDING your brains into a happy pulp. Doors at 6, BYO, free, bring your friends, enemies, etc. we will bask in the yellow light 💕

‘Leech’, Kari Cholnoky’s third solo exhibition opens TOMORROW night Kari Cholnoky holds an MFA in Painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BA from Dartmouth College, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Recent solo exhibitions include Horizontal Loader, Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York (2023); Impending Moreness, Julius Caesar Gallery, Chicago (2021); and Maw, Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York (2021). Group exhibitions include Anton Kern Gallery, New York (2025); he Pit, Los Angeles (2025); CANADA, New York (2023); Rachel Uffner Gallery and Mrs. Gallery, New York (2021); Ceysson & Bénétière, New York (2020); and Anton Kern Gallery, New York (2019), among others. Cholnoky was recently a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Painting (2024), a MacDowell Fellow in Painting (2023), and attended the Worth Advisory Artist Residency in Bovina, NY (2019) and the Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL (2017). The artist’s work is held in the public collection of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. ‘Center of Gravity,’ 2026 Faux fur, acrylic, collage, epoxy putty, wire, blood, bronze, steel 101 x 93 x 59 inches @kcholnoky

“Users / Manual 3.0” by Kari Cholnoky (@kcholnoky ) will premiere on April 2nd at the opening of the solo exhibition, LEECH, presented by @nicellebeauchene 44 pages, 4” x 5.6”, $15 Printed with Black and Bright Red inks throughout, using a Risograph GR-3770. Edition of 200. Published by #NeoglyphicMedia 😈👽 “This manual serves as an index of the material that was push-pinned to the walls of my studio as of November 23rd, 2025, which have been scanned, organized, and addended. A bonus in-progress network graph of the conceptual project is included for reference.” 📸: @magichousephotography 🌀: @electromedia666 #risograph #gr3770 #karicholnoky #leech #networkgraph #usersmanual

My show Leech opens at Nicelle Beauchene next week on April 2. Maybe we haven’t hung out much in the last six months? This is why.

MY NUMBER ONE TURNS 41 TODAY now TELL HIM HOW PRECIOUS HE IS we had some times let’s have some more ❤️❤️❤️❤️

So psyched to have Portable Battery heading to Miami with @canada.nyc glamour shots c/o the maestro @joeedenardo