LIVINGSTON MANOR – Catskill Art Space (CAS) will present an exhibition of work by Wade Kramm, Howard Schwartzberg, and Susan Silas. The exhibition opens on Saturday, May 3, with an artist talk from 3-4pm and a reception from 4-5pm; it remains on view through June 21. 

Wade Kramm’s Wall Fragments jolt perception and manipulate space by strategically placing mirror-like portals on the gallery’s walls, floors, and corners. These perceived architectural realities made from building materials (such as drywall, molding, floorboards, and doors) expand our perceptual awareness while also making us cognizant of the perceptual process we use when constructing the world by looking at it. Standing in front of each piece, the phenomenological experience fluctuates between simply seeing the materials as materials and a perceptual/physical engagement with the new spaces within the surrounding architecture. Kramm’s art explores minimalism, architecture, and perception to reshape the viewer’s engagement with the gallery space.

Howard Schwartzberg will present work that explores his evolving language of painting, investigating how canvas and paint interact beyond traditional illusion. Rejecting conventional rectangular formats, he seeks to expand the painting’s possibilities by questioning its structure and presentation. His process, influenced by reverse brainstorming and a respect for art history, involves repurposing existing visual languages to uncover new creative directions. Through this approach, he challenges material boundaries, embracing painting as an exploration of space, time, and transformation rather than mere image-making. 

After delivering a eulogy for her mother, Susan Silas considered how she would be eulogized and what ideas and entities outlive us. Silas has created work that responds to contemporary concepts of immortality, particularly Whole Brain Emulation, which proposes uploading human consciousness to an inorganic substrate – an idea largely discussed by men and based on the assumption that mind and body can be separated. To explore this, she created an avatar to house her hypothetical brain upload and extended the concept into three sculptures in the form of manipulated busts of her likeness. The works are a long-standing inquiry into embodiment and how technology reshapes our understanding of selfhood.