Surface Tension

Solo Showcase (Kelly Ahern)

Curated by Bella Greenbacher

Bushwick Gallery, New York, NY

Opening reception: April 17, 2026

Surface Tension was a solo showcase of contemporary artist Kelly Ahern's figurative oil paintings and experimental sculptures that explored the nuance of the female figure and subconscious states of dream-sequences and mania. Curated with color, material, and scale in mind, the exhibition traces Ahern's expressive inner experience throughout the past four years: navigating sexuality, womanhood, cohabitation, and the self.

Press from ArtRabbit:

"Surface Tension brings together a body of large-scale works developed over the past four years. Installed as a chronological progression, the exhibition traces a visible shift in Ahern's approach—from early explorations of expressive color and form, through darker, more disfigured compositions, to recent works that turn inward, examining the self as both subject and site. Ahern further disrupts traditional presentation by exhibiting unstretched canvases, releasing the tension of the frame and foregrounding the physical and conceptual conditions that shape the work."

"Rather than offering a fixed narrative, the exhibition invites viewers into a field of emotional and material instability—where meaning is not assigned, but formed through proximity, duration, and attention."