Please join Second Street Gallery for December’s First Friday Exhibition Reception on Friday, December 6, 5:30-7:30PM, to meet and speak with the artists. Both of our new exhibitions will remain on view through January 24, 2025.

That Feels Good! Labor as Pleasure explores the works of artists whose obsessive engagement in labor-intensive practices and material exploration is grounded in pleasure. For them, pleasure is both the fruit of their labor and also the framework for engaging with the world. It transcends mere aesthetics, inviting viewers to contemplate the potential for joy and care that is derived from the act of continuous interaction with materials and Labor. The group exhibition curated by New York City-based artist and curator Francisco Donoso will also feature the work of Max Colby, Craftwork (Nicole Yi Messier & Victoria Manganiello), Elvira Clayton, Fidencio Fifield-Perez, John Fifield-Perez, Kathleen Granados, Richard Yu-Tang Lee, Laura Josephine Snyder, and Sarah Boyts Yoder.

This exhibition is generously sponsored by Rose Jean, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Hannah Diomataris: Sticker Work is a solo exhibition of new work by Richmond-based artist Hannah Diomataris in the Dové Gallery. Diomataris’s work dives deep into nostalgic memory and sentimental material culture, transforming society’s mundane scraps into a tapestry of intricate contemplation. The artist pulls from widely circulated icons of consumer-driven society – items that are customarily used, established obsolete and ultimately discarded – and embarks on a laborious and meditative practice of re-contextualizing unchecked overconsumption.

This exhibition is generously sponsored by Camille Gerrick, Suzanne Tanner-Chitwood, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.