James Gortner
Lives and works in New York, NY
James Gortner is a painter who lives and works in New York. Gortner received an MFA from Columbia University in 2010 and a BA from Hawaii Pacific University in 2001, and has taught at Columbia University and the Art Students League. Working in oil, acrylic and canvas on panel, Gortner produces works that move between painting, sculpture and collage.
Gortner’s solo exhibitions include presentations at Lyons Wier Gallery, New York; Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery, Connecticut; Atamian Hovsepian Curatorial Practice, New York; and Dittrich & Schlichtum Gallery, Berlin. The work has appeared in New American Paintings and is held in collections including the Wooster Street Art Collective, the Jimenez-Colon Collection and the Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation.
VillageOneArt presented Gortner’s solo exhibition Eternal Flame in 2019. The artist’s work has since appeared in the gallery’s group exhibitions Double Trouble (2022) and Stretched Out (2024).
Exhibitions at VillageOneArt
2024 — Stretched Out (group), September 12 – October 19, 2024
2022 — Double Trouble (group), August 2 – September 3, 2022
2019 — Eternal Flame (solo)
Education
MFA — Columbia University, 2010
BA — Hawaii Pacific University, 2001
Solo Exhibitions
2023 — Terra Incognita, Atamian Hovsepian Curatorial Practice, New York
2019 — Myths & Mirrors, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York · Eternal Flame, VillageOneArt, New York
2017 — Dimensions Variable, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York · Force Field, Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery, CT
2016 — Ground Breakage, Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery, CT
2015 — Transformer, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York · Games, Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery, CT
2013 — The Lovers, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York
2007 — Portraits Made In Darkside, Dittrich & Schlichtum Gallery, Berlin
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 — DRAW, Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC), Chile
2024 — American Vision, Galleri Ramfjord, Oslo · Stretched Out, VillageOneArt, New York
2023 — Notes On Experimentation, Mana Contemporary, NJ
2022 — Double Trouble, VillageOneArt, New York
2019 — RW Norton Museum, LA
2010 — Columbia Thesis Exhibition, Fisher Landau Center for the Arts, New York · B-sides, Kara Walker Project Space, New York
2007 — Art Cologne, Dittrich & Schlichtum Gallery, Cologne
Selected Bibliography
2023 — Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner, “Roosevelt Island’s Annual Pop-Up Pool Party Returns With A Rainbow Deck,” Time Out New York, June
2020 — Nicole Gordon Levine, “James Gortner: An Artist Who Brings Paintings To Life,” Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, October
2019 — “Summer Session,” New American Art Collector Magazine, July
2017 — New American Paintings (Northeast) · Patricia A. Hines, “What’s Old Is New: Abstract Artist Makes New Work With Old Paintings,” Stamford Advocate, October · “James Gortner And Iris Apfel: Collectors, Creators, Reinventors,” Twyla.com, Art Connects Us, Summer
2016 — Interview by Brainard Carey, “James Gortner,” Yale Radio, June 27
2015 — Susan Dunne, “GAMES Exhibition Straddles the Line Between Painting, Sculpture, and Collage,” Hartford Courant, November · Darby & Friends, WGCH radio interview, September · Nicole Gordon Levine, “James Gortner Exclusive,” stylabl.com, June
2014 — Margaux Gali, “James Gortner: Diamond in the Rough,” Veoir Magazine, September
2013 — NaShish Scott, “The Lovers At Lyons Wier Gallery,” Quiet Lunch Magazine
2011 — Tema Stauffer, “The Mana Log: James Gortner,” Mana Contemporary
2010 — Joshua J. Friedman, “An Artspace Odyssey,” Columbia Magazine, May
2009 — “Art gets gifted,” Columbia Spectator, October
2008 — Louise Jarvis Flynn, “White Album: Meet New York’s New Avant Garde,” Men’s Journal, July
2007 — Sophie von Maltzahn, “Geschichten aus dem Crack-Haus” (Faces of a Crack House), Art market, Berliner newspaper, October 12 · “Interview with James Gortner,” Galore Magazine Germany, March · Eva Turbl, “Heads: James Gortner,” IQ Style Magazine Germany, October
Teaching
2017 — Art Students League, New York
2010 — Adjunct Art Professor, Columbia University, New York
2009 — Assistant Art Professor, Columbia University, New York
Collections
Jiang Zemin, 5th President of China · Reese Witherspoon · Wooster Street Art Collective · Jimenez-Colon Collection · Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation · Various private collections
For inquiries regarding available works by James Gortner, please contact info@villageoneart.com.