Jeff christensen
Bonnie rychlak
heidi schlatter

Catskill Art Space (CAS) will present three exhibitions from Jeff Christensen, Bonnie Rychlak, and Heidi Schlatter. The exhibition opens on Saturday, August 30, with an artist talk from 3 to 4 p.m. and a reception from 4 to 5 p.m.; it remains on view through October 25. Catskill Art Space is pleased to present The Dick Gibson Show: Six Paintings, 2015–2021 by Christensen, alongside new sculptural works by Rychlak and an immersive installation by Schlatter. These three artists offer distinct, materially driven explorations of history, architecture, memory, and the built environment.

In The Dick Gibson Show, Jeff Christensen delves into the visual detritus of the past, centering a series of paintings inspired by a set of found photographs from the 1960s—images of an anonymous DJ interviewing pop performers. With a nod to artist Neo Rauch’s counsel to “explore the caves of your own mind rather than the caves of strangers,” Christensen uses the ephemera of others to animate a vivid, personal studio practice. His paintings embed the dynamic relationship between interviewer and subject within the swirling, ambient force of music, offering intimate glimpses into the artist’s imaginative world.

Bonnie Rychlak’s sculptural project continues her long-standing experimentation with wax and encaustic, addressing themes of feminism, materiality, and urban life. Her work centers on the sensuality and vulnerability of form—melting wax into fabric, casting it, painting with it, and coating wood and plastic surfaces. The resulting pieces are tactile and enigmatic, often described as “quirky objects of contemplation” that challenge conventional distinctions between the organic and the constructed.

Heidi Schlatter’s critically oriented practice spans photography, sculpture, and installation. Her work at CAS examines the intersections of architecture, power, and historical narrative, engaging with the American western landscape as both a mythic ideal and a site of environmental and political consequence. The exhibition features imagery of the Alaskan pipeline, gold mining remnants, and a collapsed miner’s shack, printed on reflective aluminum panels that shift appearance with changing light. This marks the second installment of her ongoing series addressing American expansionism. Schlatter’s digitally manipulated images disrupt architectural space, amplifying the viewer’s awareness of place while distorting familiar structures.

About the Artists

Jeff Christensen is a New Orleans and Roscoe-based artist. He worked for over 20 years as a graphic designer, art director, and illustrator before relocating upstate with his wife Sue Barnett, where they ran Hamish & Henry Booksellers and co-founded the Dry Goods Arts Association. He designed the first seven Trout Parade posters and was instrumental in shaping Roscoe’s creative identity throughout the 2000s.

Bonnie Rychlak is an artist and occasional curator whose work has been exhibited extensively in the U.S. and Japan. She received her BA from UCLA and her MFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Rychlak has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the American Academy in Rome, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, and Surnadal Billag A/S in Norway, among others.

Heidi Schlatter is a New York and upstate-based artist originally from New Jersey. Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues including MoMA PS1, Hallwalls, Galerie Erna Hecey (Brussels), and the Daros Collection (Zurich), among many others. She is the recipient of grants from NYFA, Art Matters, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and has held residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell, and Kunstlerhaus Boswil. Schlatter holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.