Kingston, NY
“Elusive Thresholds” thoughtfully paired Jeanette Fintz’s luminous, geometric, abstract paintings with Monika Zarzeczna’s sculptural abstractions. In 68 Prince Street Gallery’s transformed auto-repair garage, creative director Alan Goolman tightly curated the exhibition so that the two artists appeared to have carefully studied each other’s work—viewers could explore how color, light, and structure manifest both in two and three dimensions in a compelling dialogue between structured form and poetic fragmentation.
Zarzeczna’s key works, such as the small-scale wood wall sculptures Chance, is it? and Or determined (both 2025), are painted with vibrant acrylics and layer form and space to evoke open-ended narratives. These sculptures reflect her broader practice of using discarded materials like found wood, cardboard, and string, applying delicate, crisp surface painting treatments and subtly irregular silhouettes. They are collages in three dimensions. In some ways, her smaller works are a reflection on value, time, and impermanence. While her sculptures initially appear solid and heavy, closer inspection reveals fragile paper, string, and painted details that evoke ephemerality and decay.
The artist collects everyday debris from Brooklyn and Berlin, dismantling and giving it another life—transforming the scraps into something that manifests her spirit. Using the language of Minimalism and the lean shapes of the Bauhaus, the surfaces appear chipped or aged, recalling discarded objects or outdated ideologies. At times, forms sag or lean in ways reminiscent of Robert Morris’s investigations of gravity and structure. Zarzeczna’s fragile works challenge viewers to reconsider what objects mean: their sustainability and life cycles.
Zarzeczna explores the “trans-state” of objects—items that have lost their original function but persist as memories, embodying an in-between realm where meaning shifts and systems evolve. I and You and We and Us embodies an “elusive” open threshold, with forms that hover between presence and absence, inviting intimate and reflective viewing. The work allows for open engagement in the poetic practices of the sculptor and brings the viewer through space.
