as an introduction to Hoskins and his work: HuffPo Interview 12/29/15 -D Dominick Lombardi

Currently: included in White Columns' Artist Registry -New York. / Work in inventory at Robischon Gallery -Denver

Solo Exhibitions:

2017     work on canvas / CBSRZ Main Street Gallery, Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek -Chester, CT

2016     Book of Debris / 57W57Arts -New York

from 57w57 press release: This striking body of work serves both as an aesthetically tactile curio as well as a fascinating anthropological record. Hoskins has created a sprawling chronicle of densely layered materials and imagery. Each edition or book within the collection acts as a visually compelling document of time, preserving the definitive materiality of a moment while revealing the transient nature of all things.

2013, 2011, 2009, 2006, 2000    OK Harris Works of Art -New York (OK Harris closed spring 2014 after 45 years)

Mr.Hoskins is a consumate abstract artist. He is extremely proficient in any medium he takes on. In his works, he demonstrates an innate feel for color, texture, line and movement. His works reflect a vibrant intelligence and sensitivity -and because of this, His paintings and work on paper transcend the often staid sphere of abstraction. -Suzanne Kreps, director and archivist at OK Harris

As an abstract painter, Hoskins is a bit of an enigma: his work is not easily placed into categories that the critical lexicon has established since the second world war with the sudden, spectacular rise of non-objective painting in America.  His work is too opaque and perhaps a bit too blunt to fit in with the Color Field artists such as Helen Frankenthaler or even Sam Francis.  The pastoral lyricism of his palette keeps him at arm’s length from the rowdier exponents of Abstract Expressionism.  Not finding an easy frame of reference for understanding the work, some critics have resorted to making a comparison with the late work of Richard Diebenkorn:  those fragile arcs and incised lines floating in between misty skeins of washed-out color do bear some superficial resemblance to the Ocean Park Series.  But the light and atmosphere that is being evoked in Hoskins’ paintings seems all wrong for that comparison to stick for very long, once you see the actual pieces themselves.  Such comparisons are a bit like trying to write about music:  Beethoven is to Brahms as Mahler is to what? Miles Davis is to Funk as BeBop is to (fill in the blank).  As it happens, I often find myself thinking of jazz when I look at a good Hoskins painting or collage. -Harold Graves / from Harold'sSketchbook

2011     Gillette Gallery at the Garrison Art center in Garrison, NY

             Saint Anthony Chaplet -collages -Trinity Wall Street Visual Arts -New York

2008     Studio B Gallery -Nashville

Joe Nolan, Nashville Scene: Hoskins’ work is equally joyful, meditative, defiant and insightful.

A given Hoskins canvas or collage may seem to begin as a geometric study, but ultimately gives

way, playfully and energetically, to expressionistic gestures, lines and mark-making.

2007     Lobby Series, #9 / Roger Smith Hotel -New York

2007 & 2006     Karin Sanders Fine Art -Sag Harbor, NY

... each piece of cardboard or paper detritus retains some elements of its origin. It’s a crafty

gambit that serves to illustrate how the artist’s unique vision informs much of his overall

worldview and creative construct. -Jennifer Landes, East Hampton Star

...Mr. Hoskins uses an assertive approach to surface and line in his abstract compositions,

emphasizing tonal and color juxtapositions that are balanced by a confident use of negative

space. -Eric Ernst, Southampton Press

2003     Epiphany 2003 / Saint James’ Church (Madison Avenue) -New York

2002     Thai Cafe, Greenpoint -Brooklyn, NY

2000     Durst Organization / Show Walls -New York

1998     Fleming Gallery / Tasis England American School -Surrey, England

1997     Saint Clement’s Church (W. 46th) -New York

1991     Saint Peter’s Church Narthex (E. 54th) -New York

1990     Speed Limit 55 (W. 23rd) -New York

1989 &1988    Lawrence Gallery (private) -Paris

1989     Saks 5th Avenue -Chicago  

1987     Mount Saint Clare College -Clinton, IA

1985     Iowa Wesleyan College -Mount Pleasant, IA

             Clinton Art Association -Clinton, IA

Group Exhibitions:

2023     Altered Logistics: Contemporary Collage and Appropriation Art /  Dowd Gallery, SUNY Cortland, New York  

2021     Drawing Challenge XVII, XX, XXII { on-line exhibition series during covid isolation / Jason McCoy Gallery, New York

2020     Drawing Challenge II, VI, VII, VIII, X, XII, XIV, XV / Jason McCoy Gallery, New York

             Six Perspectives / Plaxall Gallery - Long Island City, NY

2019     Unextinguished, the episodic landscape / SRO Gallery -Crown Heights, Brooklyn

2018     Photo-A-GoGo curated by D.Dominick Lombardi / SRO Gallery -Crown Heights, Brooklyn

             Where to Draw the Line curated by D.Dominck Lombardi / Walter Wickiser Gallery -New York

             The Greatest Show on Earth / Sideshow Nation VI -Williamsburg, Brooklyn

2017     Thru the Rabbit Hole 2 / Sideshow Nation V -Williamsburg, Brooklyn

2016     Summer Reading at Fortnight Institute -New York  

             Through the Veil of the Soul D.Dominick Lombardi, curator  Galerie Protoge -New York (catalog)

2014/15  A Tangled Web We Weave D.Dominick Lombardi, curator  Causey Contemporary -New York (catalog)

2012     Art on Paper / Art and Design Gallery at Andrews University -Berrien Springs, MI

             Soul Seekers: Interpreting the Icon /  Trinity Church Museum, Wall Street -New York

             Random Art 1 / Ursa Major Gallery -Shelburne Falls, MA

2010     Summer Group Exhibition / OK Harris Works of Art -New York

2009     U.S.Embassy -Tunis, Tunisia / Art in Embassies Program -U.S.State Dept.

             Summer Group Exhibition / OK Harris Works of Art -New York

2008     Collaborative Concepts at the Hat Factory -Peekskill, NY

             Small Works (31st Annual) / 80 Washington Square Galleries -New York

2007     New York to New Hampshire: Artists of the OK Harris Gallery -New England College in Henniker, NH

             Summer Invitational Exhibition/ OK Harris Works of Art -New York

2006     Gallery Retrospective / Karin Sanders Fine Art -Sag Harbor, NY

             Best of the Lab / Yellow Bird Gallery -Newburgh, NY

2005     The Vision Glorious / General Theological Seminary -New York

2004     New York Painters,’04 / Barrett Art Center -Poughkeepsie, NY Susan Cross, curator

                 Duality/ Multiplicity / The Lab Gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel -New York

2002     25th Anniversary Benefit Selections Exhibition / The Drawing Center -New York

             Re-assembled: Collage & Assemblage / OK Harris Works of Art -New York

             U.S. Embassy -San Jose, Costa Rica / Art in Embassies Program -U.S.State Dept.

2001    12 Views / The Drawing Center -New York (12 Views exhibition catalog)

Mario Naves Currently Hanging / The New York Observer, October 15, 2001: Collages That Stray From Diebenkorn ...a searching equanimity is yoked from the diagrammatic and geometric. Breaking the rectangular format Diebenkorn assiduously honored, Mr.Hoskins pursues what we’ll call pure collage -that is to say an art of material, not illusion. Hoskins combines old envelopes, labels and things the rest of us toss in the wastepaper basket with an appreciative eye for contrast, gently pitting smooth surfaces against wrinkled ones, staples against Scotch tape, clean forms against rough edges...

-from Scott Speh's Hot Commodoties,12 Views at Drawing Center (Soho), fall 2001: Yet another intriguing Selections show at the Drawing Center! I love Moses Hoskins’ dirty collages. They look like Richard Diebenkorn and Richard Tuttle were collaborating in a dumpster outside Office Max, as Hoskins incorporates paper, envelopes, boxes with acrylic, ink, pencil and "diverse tapes" in fresh-funky abstract assemblages.

2001    Inaugural Invitational Exhibition/ Collaborative Concepts -Beacon, NY

-D. Dominick Lombardi -Inaugural Exhibition for Gallery in Beacon/ New York Times, April 22, 2001 ...Using mostly found, discarded house paint, Mr. Hoskins creates tangled compositions that transmit the transient mind of the artist. Recognizable things like masking tape, drips of paint and drawn arabesques only temporarily hold things in place, as the visual effect of these paintings dart through the subconscious mind of the viewer.

2000     Art Exhibition Program/ Doral Bank -New York

1998     Obsession Food/ Pelham Arts Center -Pelham, NY

1997     New American Paintings, juried exhibitions in print - June, 1997 Volume 2 Number 4

               Verge/ Chi Meat Gallery -Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Waterfront Week, Volume 7.6 Mar 27-April 9, 1997 Artburger especially liked Book of Debris by Moses Hoskins, literally an archeologic/ecologic study of the debris on Canal Street that provides ample material evidence of the sweatshops, Chinatown, and fastfood. There is also the irony of carefully turning the pages of a work of art that would be untouchable garbage on the street.

             Champions of Modernism: the Art of Tomorrow, The Art of Today:          

               Polk Museum of Art -Lakeland, FL

               Brevard Museum of Art & Science -Melbourne, FL

               Sunrise Museum -Charleston, WV                                     

               Gibbes Museum of Art -Charleston, SC

1996       Mary Washington College Galleries -Fredericksburg, VA  

               Castle Gallery, College of New Rochelle -New Rochelle, NY

More Fuel for the Debate on Abstraction by Vivien Raynor/ New York Times, Feb.18,1996 Moses Hoskins nudges along the tradition of collage that was established by Kurt Schwitters with two aptly named "Books of Debris".

1995     The Illustrated Book / Center for Book Arts -New York

1992     Paper Houses/  David Beitzel Gallery -New York

            167th Annual Exhibition / National Academy of Design -New York

1991     Invitational / OK Harris Works of Art -New York

1990     Allegory & Recent Work / Woodpecker Interart Space -New York

            Vent Contemporain / Pierre Cornette de Saint-Cyr, Hotel Drouot Richelieu -Paris

1987    Annual Iowa Artists Exhibition / Des Moines Art Center -Des Moines

            & other juried group shows,‘85-’87, in Iowa & Illinois before coming to NYC in ‘88

Hoskins creates a cascade-like fugue that dominates each work liken to a figurative contour remembered.  Hoskins is adding and subtracting visual data either to restructure or cripple the whole, keeping wide of being dull, until the combined impulses have angled out a mettlesome potential balance. An intuitive feel for balance point construction yields variables Piero della Francesca would envy.
 -Don Doe / SRO Gallery press release for group exhibition Unextinguished / The Episodic Landscape, January 2019

     collage/ mixed media, the Drawing Center, 2001

Moses E. Hoskins was born in 1953 in Iowa where he spent his youth and some time as an adult. He was educated in public schools and attended a few colleges* in the Midwest before attaining a BFA later on in 1981 from the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History. As a visual fine artist with roots in figurative rendering he has worked abstractly since the mid 80's. Residing in New York City since 1988, Hoskins exhibits in a variety of venues. He is a recipient of grants for support of his work from the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation and also from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.** He was a guest at Yaddo in 2010.

*colleges attended prior to the University of Iowa '79- BFA'81 include: Wilmington College -Wilmington, Ohio -fall,1974 / Mount Saint Clare College -Clinton, Iowa - Associate of Arts, 1973 /  Minneapolis College of Art & Design - fall, 1971

**Pollock-Krasner Foundation 1991, 2006, 2017 /  Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation 2006, 2010, 2013