I Don’t Have Time For The Blues

The exhibition will be on view from November 10 through 28, 2026, with an Opening Reception on Thursday, November 12, from 6–8 PM, and a Closing Reception on Saturday, November 28, from 4–6 PM. This marks ZBW’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. For Zoë Brown-Weissmann, life is an adventure to be embraced in all its unpredictability. Her vibrant paintings reflect an optimistic outlook, a fascination with the world around her, and a spirited approach to artistic expression. Through her imaginative compositions, she offers a distinctive and colorful perspective on seeing the world. Drawing on her extensive background in theatrical costume and prop design, Zoë Brown-Weissmann brings a particular sensitivity to texture, layering, and dimensionality to both her acrylic paintings and assemblage works. While traditional approaches to painting often emphasize line, followed by color and texture, her creative process reverses this order, beginning with texture, then line, and finally color. In her assemblage paintings, Zoë Brown-Weissmann incorporates an astonishing array of materials, including acrylic skims, cardboard packaging, discarded costume trimmings, mesh fruit bags and other found objects, into richly layered, three-dimensional compositions. Beginning with a fixed idea in mind, she builds each work through the addition, removal, and rearrangement of elements, balancing careful planning with spontaneity. Embedded in paint and combined in unexpected ways, these everyday materials take on new identities, blurring the boundaries between painting and sculpture. New York City, with its cultural landmarks, vibrant streets, and theatrical energy, is another recurring source of inspiration. Works such as Dancin’ Up Broadway, Summer Nights at Lincoln Center, and Art Students League #1 and #2 celebrate places that have shaped her artistic life. In other paintings, including The Most Misunderstood Bird: The Pigeon, familiar subjects become opportunities for playful abstraction and surprising visual encounters. The exhibition’s title, “I Don’t Have Time for the Blues,” reflects Zoë Brown-Weissmann’s personal philosophy of approaching life with openness, humor, and curiosity. Yet her joie de vivre does not mean overlooking life’s more difficult moments. Even in moodier works such as Closure, she explores themes of acceptance and change rather than finality. For Zoë Brown-Weissmann, life’s ups and downs are all part of the journey, and her paintings reflect an artist who continues to find meaning, inspiration, and creative possibilities in whatever life brings. Zoë Brown-Weissmann is a multidisciplinary artist whose career spans painting, sculpture, theatrical design, stage millinery, and education. She earned a BFA in Theater Design from West Virginia University and continued her studies in New York at the Art Students League under Morris Kantor. As a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829, she worked extensively in Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, opera, and ballet. Her theatrical credits include work on Follies and The Wiz, as well as stage millinery for the Metropolitan Opera and American Ballet Theatre. She also created decorative parrot sculptures for a Neiman Marcus holiday presentation. After a 25-year hiatus from painting, ZBW returned to the canvas in 2011 while living in Florida. Her work was selected five times for the Orlando Museum of Art’s First Thursdays program. She returned to Manhattan in 2019 and has since devoted herself to painting full time, continuing to exhibit her work in New York. For more information, please contact: Lola Shepard, Director 212-414-4040 | [email protected] Gallery hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 12–6 PM Instagram: @viridianartists