CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Sea Violet

KATHRYN MARKEL FINE ARTS PRESENTS
SEA VIOLET FEATURING NEW PAINTINGS BY TESS MICHALIK
April 9 - May 16, 2026
Artist Reception: April 9th, 6-8pm
529 W 20th St. 6W NEW YORK, NY 10011

Tuesday - Saturday 11am-6pm
Phone: 212.366.5368
Direct Gallery Email: markel@markelfinearts.com
Available Work

Left: For Toko, oil on panel, 2026, 24×30in

Right: The Sea Violet, oil on panel, 2026, 5×7in

Left: Juicy Jay, oil on panel, 2025, 27.5×19.75in

Center: Cheri Cheri Lady, oil on panel, 2026, 24×30in

Right: Could Heaven Ever Be Like This, oil on canvas, 2026, 45×32in

Left: Could Heaven Ever Be Like This, oil on canvas, 2025, 45×32 in

Right: Possession, oil on canvas, 2026, 48×40in

Left to Right: Juicy Jay, Cheri Cheri Lady, Could Heaven Ever Be Like This, Possession

Left to Right: For Toko, The Sea Violet, Juicy Jay, and Cheri Cheri Lady

Left: Glass Candy Heart, oil on panel, 2026, 24×20in

Right: Forest of Forgotten, oil on canvas, 2026, 40×30in

Left to Right: Possession, Glass Candy Heart, and Forest of Forgotten

Left: Warp, oil on panel, 2025, 10×8in

Left Center: Love Crimes, oil on panel, 2025, 30×24in

Juicy Jay, Cheri Cheri Lady, and Could Heaven Ever Be Like This

Title Wall

Clockwise:

Warp, oil on panel, 2025, 10×8in

Love Crimes, oil on panel, 2025, 30×24in

Cheri Cheri Lady, Could Heaven Ever Be Like This, and Possession

Press Release

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts is pleased to announce Sea Violet, an exhibition of new paintings by Tess Michalik. Her work explores material and its relationship to gesture. This is her first solo exhibition with the gallery. A reception for the artist will be held on April 9th from 6-8pm.

Michalik’s floral paintings move between abstraction and naturalism, drawing on Romanticism, Abstract Expressionism, and 18th-century decorative patterns and textiles. Working alla prima, forms emerge through quick, voluminous layers of impasto, with individual marks remaining distinct as single daubs of paint transform into petals and leaves. Shaped by touch rather than description, the paintings depict flowers in various states of bloom, what the artist describes as the “zenith of their short-lived existence.”

The flowers are set against flat, often single-color grounds that recall wallpaper or fabric. These backgrounds create stage-like spaces where the subject hovers rather than settles into depth. In some paintings a visible smear interrupts this flatness, pulling gesture across the surface and complicating the distinction between figure and ground.

Michalik’s paintings hold both pleasure and transience in view, evoking a quiet memento mori. As she writes, “They are small protestations to the drudgery of the mundane and the pain of existence. These are little love letters to the warm days of ecstasy that are captured by the autumn bouquet or the first blooming of the spring crocus, the first bit of purple to pop out of the snow.”

Tess Michalik is a Brooklyn based painter. She received her MFA at Northern Illinois University. Michalik’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including at Katherine Markel Fine Arts (NYC), The Schoolhouse Gallery (Provincetown, MA), The Painting Center (NYC), Indiana State Museum (Indianapolis, IN), WAG-Qaumajuq (Manitoba, CA). Her paintings have been published internationally in Architectural Digest.

ABOUT KATHRYN MARKEL FINE ART
Established in 1976 with the belief that significant contemporary art can be beautiful as well as visually and intellectually rigorous, Kathryn Markel Fine Art is committed to the experience of discovery and collecting at the highest level. Committed to serving a deep network of collectors and institutions, Kathryn Markel Fine Art showcases a diverse array of primary market artists, unified by excellence in their craft, compelling intellectual framework, and a love of the art-making process.

https://www.markelfinearts.com/
20th Street 529 W 20th St. 6W New York, NY 10011 10th Avenue 179 10th Avenue New York, NY 10011

Installation Views of Sea Violet; New Paintings by Tess Michalik at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts.
Inquire directly for availability