Calico Exhibitions Presents:
ALTA VISTA
Recent works by Kirkland Bray & Todd Koelmel
March 14 - April 27, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, March 14, 6-8pm
Open Viewing Hours: Saturdays + Sundays 12-5pm
Upstairs at Small Talk
1 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY 

Calico is pleased to present Alta Vista, a showcase of recent paintings by Kirkland Bray and Todd Koelmel. 

Landscapes have been a staple of artistic expression for centuries, capturing the ever-changing relationship between humans and nature. From the idealized pastoral scenes of the Renaissance to the dramatic, light-filled vistas of the Romantic era, artists have used landscapes to explore beauty while capturing places and moments in time. Alta Vista offers works by two contemporary painters that cleverly push boundaries by infusing landscapes with abstraction, surrealism, and alternate perspectives. Offering both a reflection of reality and a window into imagination, these works by Bray and Koelmel playfully reconsider a constant yet evolving subject in the history of painting.

Kirkland Bray is a painter and collage artist whose work is deeply rooted in the use of found materials. Whether working with oxidized book pages, discarded canvases, or repurposed textures, his creative process embraces discovery and transformation. Bray’s paintings often expand upon his ongoing “Gathering” series - a collection of surrealistic landscapes populated by peculiar masses of people. Influenced by his travels and outdoor explorations, his work reimagines natural settings, sometimes preserving their essence, other times altering them to accommodate an eerie and exaggerated human presence.

At the heart of Bray’s practice is a desire to push beyond his comfort zone—creating beauty from the discarded, reinterpreting familiar spaces, and continuously evolving his approach. He has been painting on found surfaces for more than 20 years and began incorporating collage into his work in 2012. 

Kirkland Bray lives and works in Jersey City, NJ.

Todd Koelmel is an Upstate New York painter whose work navigates the intersection of digital and analog art. His distinct graphic style, mastery of color, and use of hard edges lend themselves to a process of simplification - described as “a boiling down that’s both nostalgic and modern.” Koelmel’s creative process begins with modern, digital sketches where shapes and colors are simplified and flattened. These digital studies then evolve into analog paintings that incorporate stencils, masking tape, canvas, and oils. The resulting works involve vibrant blocks of color, bold linework, and a visual balance which could be described as both “relaxing” and “satisfying.”

With a background in engineering and design, Koelmel creates paintings that pay homage to artists throughout history while bringing a fresh, contemporary perspective to the lineage of abstract and minimalist art. His work is held in private collections across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Join us on Friday, March 14th, 6-8pm for the opening reception of Alta Vista, upstairs at Small Talk, 1 Tinker Street in downtown Woodstock, NY. 

Calico is an exhibition platform founded in 2012 by artist, organizer, and Woodstock resident, Scott Chasse. Originally a brick-and-mortar gallery space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Calico now focuses on location-based exhibits, installations, and experiences within and beyond the gallery sphere.

Small Talk is a rustic cocktail bar in the heart of downtown Woodstock. The main bar is a thoughtfully designed space featuring colors and textures inspired by the surrounding outdoors. Upstairs is an auxiliary space reserved for functions and events which is also home to seasonally rotated art exhibitions presented by Calico.