Maya Frodeman Gallery is pleased to present Recess, a solo exhibition of paintings, drawings and sculptures with artist Vicki Sher. Known for her vibrant yet contemplative abstractions, Sher creates works that balance exuberant color with quiet, visual rhythm. In Recess, paintings and sculptures come together as a meditation on play, rest, and the emotional resonance of color.
The exhibition’s title evokes the familiar childhood moment of release from the classroom; an opportunity to step outside, move freely, and engage the world with curiosity and joy. Sher draws on this idea as a metaphor for the emotional and sensory possibilities of color. Just as recess encourages exploration and interaction, color in Sher’s work activates an uplifting visual experience that invites viewers to take a pause, look, and feel.
While Sher’s compositions are abstract, they remain wholly tethered to the natural world. Shapes reminiscent of branches, leaves, and landscapes emerge within invented arrangements of line and geometry. A work may begin as an intuitive composition, but is finished when it subtly recalls something familiar: a landscape, a memory, or a form encountered in nature. In this way, her paintings exist in a space between invention and recognition.
Despite their vibrancy, Sher often describes her works as “humming, rather than belting.” Musical language offers a useful metaphor for her process: compositions unfold through harmony, rhythm, and occasional visual dissonance before settling into equilibrium. The results are images that feel both energetic and composed, playful yet contemplative.
Alongside the paintings, Recess introduces sculptural works that extend Sher’s visual language into three dimensions. These forms embrace gravity and balance while translating the layered gestures of her drawings into physical space.
Together, the works in the exhibition explore the interplay between vibrancy and quietude, abstraction and recognition, joy and reflection. Much like the recess of childhood – or the restorative escape many find in Jackson Hole – the exhibition offers viewers a momentary break from daily routines: a space to linger, observe, and reconnect with the simple pleasures of color, form, and play.
Born in Washington D.C. in 1966, Vicki Sher received her BFA from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and received her MFA from the University of Iowa. Her work has been exhibited at public institutions, including the Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA, The Phillips Museum at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, and the Beatrice M. Haggerty Gallery, University of Dallas, Dallas TX. She is the recipient of a MacDowell Colony Fellowship award and a VCCA Fellowship award. She has participated in numerous art fairs, including VOLTA Basel, NADA, and Art Paris Fair. Sher is represented by Frosch & Co. Gallery in New York, NY, Maya Frodeman Gallery, Jackson, WY, George Gallery, Charleston, SC, and Galerie Louis Gendre, Chamalieres, France, among other galleries in the USA and Europe. Sher lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
