Upcoming

Chellis Baird, Yana Beylinson, MaryKate Maher, Rachel Rubenstein, Noga Yudkovik-Etzioni

November 21 - December 18

Opening Reception: November 21st, 6 - 8 pm

KALINER is delighted to present a group exhibition ‘Upcoming’, featuring works by Chellis Baird, Yana Beylinson, MaryKate Maher, Rachel Rubenstein, and Noga Yudkovik-Etzioni.
The five abstract artists come together to share transformation, tension, depth and spirituality within their practices. ‘Upcoming’ is a nod to the inaugural exhibition of the gallery that took place in November 2022, and marks 3 years of KALINER’s full programing.

Yana Beylinson’s paintings process is an ongoing exploration of the spiritual—a search for the unseen forces that shape human experience. Though her subjects remain constant, they move fluidly across different realms: some works reinterpret 17th-century Dutch still life, others unfold as imagined landscapes, and still others take the form of contemplative still life compositions. Each painting functions as a portal, drawing the viewer into a world that extends beyond the visible. Rather than simply depicting objects, her practice seeks to reveal an essence that exists beyond language—an elemental truth that remains unspoken yet deeply felt. Rooted in the lineage of Western art, her work weaves classical traditions together with the immediacy and presence of traditional Chinese brush painting. Through decisive, expressive strokes, she strives to capture energy in its purest state, balancing discipline with spontaneity.

Embracing a process-driven approach to abstraction, Rachel Rubenstein embarks on an ongoing journey of discovery and experimentation which has become a defining element in her work. Parts of canvas are meticulously affixed, torn, and repeatedly manipulated, sometimes undergoing multiple iterations. The work is punctuated by the textures of what’s been left behind. The horizontal lines symbolize fluctuating thoughts or patterns, became Rubenstein’s visual vocabulary. They are expanding or contracting in response to varying circumstances. The artwork is evolving into a reflection of the artist’s innermost self, offering a raw and intimate glimpse into her emotional journey, utilizing distressed canvas as the medium of expression. Passionate about healing and growth, Rubenstein paintings are centered around themes of transformation and renewal, resonates powerfully within the current global political and cultural landscape. In a time marked by rapid change and evolving narratives around painful or positive changes, personal or collective identity shifts, Rubenstein’s paintings offer a space to reflect on these transformations. Her pieces—layered with texture and depth—invite viewers to confront the constant flux that shapes both our inner lives and societal structures.

Chellis Baird investigates how everyday actions shape and transform the social fabric. Twisted, knotted, and stuffed ropes create a sublime tension between brush and surface, at times rupturing the limits of the frame as they push beyond the two-dimensional plane. Baird’s distinct material vocabulary draws from formative experiences with dance, fashion, textiles, and color. These influences continually inform her handwoven canvases, fueling an emotional inquiry into layered and tangled forms. Through these textured constructions, she invites viewers to engage with the physicality of the human hand and spirit, offering enough openness for them to project, interpret, and release their own emotional landscape.

Noga Yudkovik Etzioni’s work takes the form of mixed media which oscillates between clear representations of objects and abstractionism. The work work presented in the exhibition entitled ‘Air Pocket’ is an intricate relief, carefully constructed silhouette capturing air pocket within itself. Yudkovik-Etzioni build this paper work with a myriad of techniques like coloring, drawing, stamping, cutting, tearing, and itching. The monochromatic coloring and the way the surface is processed “disguises” the paper as another substance, endowing the work with a metallic appearance. Much like the transformation of materials, the represented object is not fixed. The paper relief vacillate between the abstract and the figurative where they amalgamate utterly amorphous forms with fragments of fauna and flora images.

MaryKate Maher’s collages shift between themes of energy and voids, forms and nature, and bodies and space. Her works are process-based, and painting, and photography are all involved in the works though not necessarily apparent. Maher innovatively uses UV prints of her own photographs— featuring “voids” in varying hues that serve as the foundation for her collage works. The artist builds them up in flat layers of gradients and edges. The illusion of depth emerges suggesting landscape and body motifs without ever quite materializing into representation. They grow volumes and flatten out through color, line, light, and shadow, oscillating between shallow planes and depth. Although rooted in their materiality, there is an apparent search for the sacred in these simultaneously prehistoric and futuristic works.

Together, the practices of Beylinson, Rubenstein, Baird, Yudkovik-Etzioni, and Maher reflect a shared commitment to transformation, material inquiry, and the search for meaning beyond the surface. Though distinct in method and visual language, each artist pushes the boundaries of form—whether through spiritual contemplation, physical manipulation of canvas, tactile construction, meticulous relief-making, or the interplay of void and image. Their works converge in a dialogue that honors complexity, tension, and wonder, embodying the ethos that has shaped KALINER’s program from its inception. As the gallery marks three years of rigorous and imaginative exhibition-making, ‘Upcoming’ celebrates the diversity of artistic vision that continues to define its evolving identity.