Contemporary Art Matters

Contemporary Art Matters Contemporary Art Matters is a private art gallery in downtown Columbus, Ohio owned by Rebecca Ibel.

This month Madeleine Bunbury will be back in Columbus to take portrait commissions! She is available September 15th and ...
09/01/2026

This month Madeleine Bunbury will be back in Columbus to take portrait commissions! She is available September 15th and 16th for plein air sketches and portrait commissions of the horses. ✨There is only one spot left! ✨ Don’t miss the opportunity! Renowned for painting from life, Madeleine Bunbury’s , horse paintings are striking portraits capturing the likeness and spirit of each animal. To find out more please contact by direct message Meg McTiver or Rebecca Ibel or email [email protected], or [email protected]

We're excited to share a preview of our Fall 2026 exhibition lineup 🍁September 1 through October 31- “NoBody Left Behind...
09/01/2026

We're excited to share a preview of our Fall 2026 exhibition lineup 🍁
September 1 through October 31- “NoBody Left Behind” a group exhibition with an opening on September 10, 5-7pm. Curated by artist Justice Apple, and featuring works by Justice Apple, Sarah Cain, Jennifer Coates, Sheree Hovsepian, Justine Kurland, Maria Yolanda Liebana, Melissa Meyer, Bruce Robinson, David Shrobe and Almond Zigmund, artists whose practices expand the possibilities of collage, assemblage, and material-based abstraction.

November 10 - December 17 with an opening reception Tuesday, November 10 5-7 pm- Los Angeles–based Icelandic artist Heimir Björgúlfsson will be presenting his solo exhibition “The Way of Things”. His paintings portray the intersection of wildlife and human culture with both a playful spirit and a sense of the sublime.

In our Viewing Room this September, acrylic paintings by Carlos Gamez de Francisco will be on view. In his “Haute Couture" series, horses step into an imaginary theatrical world staged within domestic interiors.
October’s Viewing Room will present Arne Svenson’s photographic series “Traffic”. From a vantage point 25 feet in the air, using a zoom lens, Svenson photographed traffic-snarled cars on the street below his studio.

For inquiries contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at [email protected] or 614-313-4360.

From her recent trip to Ghana, Contemporary Art Matters director Rebecca Ibel brought back a new work by artist Solomon ...
08/27/2026

From her recent trip to Ghana, Contemporary Art Matters director Rebecca Ibel brought back a new work by artist Solomon Adu titled “Carry the Burden, Carry the Future”

Solomon Adu describes this piece as a reflection on resilience, identity, and the weight of expectations carried by the younger generation. Featuring a figure carrying books atop their head set against an urban backdrop, the composition explores how education, community, and heritage intersect as foundational pillars for building the future. The structural hand-stitching binds discarded street materials together, turning everyday waste into a canvas of hope and endurance.

Solomon Adu, “Carry the Burden, Carry the Future”, 2022, Blue ballpoint pen ink, discarded vinyl advertising banners, paper, and hand-stitched thread, 35.5 x 32 in.

For inquiries on viewing this artwork in person or other pieces by Adu, contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at [email protected] or 614-313-4360.

Save the Date! for our upcoming group exhibition, “NoBody Left Behind”, curated by artist Justice Apple. The opening wil...
08/24/2026

Save the Date! for our upcoming group exhibition, “NoBody Left Behind”, curated by artist Justice Apple. The opening will be Thursday, September 10, 5-7pm.

Justice Apple is a Chicago-based artist and New York agency-represented fashion photographer. Her thematic interests include feminine power, fragility, and resilience, and her work explores the complex relationships between sexuality and vulnerability through photography, collage, mixed media, and sculpture.

Apple earned a BFA in Fine Art Photography from Bard College, where she studied under renowned photographers Larry Fink and Stephen Shore. She was also mentored by Jodi Peckman, former Director of Photography at Rolling Stone magazine. Apple has assisted esteemed photographers including Annie Leibovitz, Coliena Rentmeester, and Pamela Hanson, gaining extensive experience in the fashion photography world.

Apple’s work is constructed from carefully and meticulously cut out images from vintage magazines. She sources her materials through vintage/antique shops, live auctions, reselling platforms, and second hand book stores. She aims to continue creating work that contributes to the ongoing conversation about what defines femininity and identity in a consumer-driven, beauty-obsessed, and body-restricting society. By doing so, she seeks to shed light on the detrimental effects of patriarchal expectations and the silencing of women.

Images:
Justice Apple, “My Body Your Choice: Marionette”, 2025
Vintage magazines from 1910-1990, watercolor paper, adhesive and an iron, 12 x 9 in.

Justice Apple, “My Body Your Choice: A Heavy Hold”, 2025
Vintage Magazines from 1910-1990, watercolor paper, adhesive and an iron, 12 x 9 in.

For inquiries about Justice Apple’s work contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at [email protected] or 614-313-4360

Great studio visit with artist Nikos Rutkowski! It was wonderful to see so many new works in progress and get a glimpse ...
08/20/2026

Great studio visit with artist Nikos Rutkowski! It was wonderful to see so many new works in progress and get a glimpse into what’s taking shape in his studio.

Images: Work in progress details

Nikos Fyodor Rutkowski (b. 1979, Columbus, OH) lives and works in Columbus, Ohio. He grew up in Columbus and, after attending the arts-focused high school Fort Hayes, received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2008 from the Columbus College of Art and Design. Rutkowski has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions across the United States. In 2023, his work was featured in Rituals of Renewal, a two-person exhibition at Modfellows Art Gallery, Nashville, TN. In 2020, he was the subject of a solo exhibition, Personae, at Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH. His work was recently included in the group exhibition Belonging: The Long Island City Studio Collective, at Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH (2025). In 2021, Rutkowski exhibited in Contemporary Art Matters: Inaugural Exhibition. His work has been reviewed and featured in The Columbus Dispatch, Dayton Daily News, Columbus Alive, 614 Magazine, The Lantern, Columbus Monthly, and Columbus Underground, as well as in Studio Visit Magazine and on WOSU’s Broad and High. Rutkowski has received several awards, including the Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council (2021) and the Support for Professional Artists Grant from the Greater Columbus Arts Council (2022).

For inquiries contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at [email protected] or 614-313-4360.

Contemporary Art Matters artist Sarah Fairchild has created a gorgeous series of original paintings and prints commissio...
08/10/2026

Contemporary Art Matters artist Sarah Fairchild has created a gorgeous series of original paintings and prints commissioned for Brassica restaurant locations throughout Ohio and in Houston, Texas. Featured here are the Cabbage Diptych, installed at Brassica's Cleveland location, along with a selection of other commissioned works that showcase the breadth of the project. Fairchild's distinctive works combine acrylic, silkscreen, flocking and metallic foils with a vibrant color palette, elevating familiar forms into luminous contemporary compositions.

Since 2014, Brassica has featured Sarah's original artwork throughout its restaurants, reflecting the company's commitment to thoughtful design, fresh ingredients, and a connection to the natural world. Today, her commissioned works can be found in Brassica locations across Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Houston.
Congratulations to Sarah on this outstanding ongoing collaboration that continues to bring contemporary art into spaces where people gather every day.


For inquiries on work by Sarah Fairchild contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at [email protected] or 614-313-4360.

Cabbage-Diptych
Acrylic, silkscreen and flocking (velvet) on paper
60x96 inches (30x48 inches each)
Original painting commissioned for four Brassica restaurant locations in Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio

Los Angeles artist Dion Johnson has just completed a stunning new commission, “Cloud Tracer 3” (2026). Spanning three ca...
08/06/2026

Los Angeles artist Dion Johnson has just completed a stunning new commission, “Cloud Tracer 3” (2026). Spanning three canvases and measuring 60 × 140 inches, the acrylic painting exemplifies Johnson's signature exploration of color, movement, and atmospheric space. We are delighted to see this ambitious commission realized.

Cloud Tracer 3, 2026
Acrylic on three canvases
60 × 140 inches

For inquiries on work by Dion Johnson, contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at [email protected] or 614-313-4360.

Congratulations to gallery artist Melissa Meyer, who is featured in the new book “Cut Out: A Feminist History of Photo C...
08/04/2026

Congratulations to gallery artist Melissa Meyer, who is featured in the new book “Cut Out: A Feminist History of Photo Collage, Montage and Assemblage" by Fiona Rogers. In the book, Meyer reflects, "Collage has an influence on my abstract paintings. Even when I paint, I think I work in a collage space. I still refer to the femmage concept of 'waste not want not,' and I often take my discarded watercolours and cut them up and reuse them."

Collages by Melissa Meyer will be featured in our upcoming exhibition “NoBody Left Behind”, a group exhibition curated by Justice Apple that brings together artists whose practices expand the possibilities of collage, assemblage, and material-based abstraction.

SAVE THE DATE for the opening reception on September 10, 2026. The exhibition will be on view September 1–29, 2026.




“Cut Out” presents the previously untold relationship between photography, feminist art, and collage through the Victoria and Albert Museum's extensive photography collection, spanning the nineteenth century to the present day. The book explores how women artists have long used collage to examine identities shaped by conflicting, contrasting, and often contradictory experiences. It also foregrounds the practice of femmage—a radical reclamation of craft traditionally associated with women—as a resilient and politically engaged strategy within feminist art.

For inquiries contact Rebecca Ibel or Cathy Williard at [email protected] or 614-313-4360.

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243 N. 5th Street, Suite 110
Columbus, OH
43215

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+16143005381

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