NEW ORLEANS, LA.- Jonathan Ferrara Gallery announce that The Whitney Museum of American Art has acquired the work of gallery artist Skylar Fein for their permanent collection.

Whitney Curator of Drawings Carter Foster and the committee selected Skylar Fein Lincoln (Soft Serve Ice) (2007) Drawing. transfer, spray paint on paper
25" x 19" x 3.5" for the museum's permanent collection.

Skylar Fein was born in Greenwich Village and raised in the Bronx. He has had many careers including teaching nonviolent resistance under the umbrella of the Quakers, working for a gay film festival in Seattle, stringing for The New York Times and as pre-med student at Universtiy of New Orleans where he moved one week before Hurricane Katrina hit.

In the wreckage of New Orleans, Skylar found his new calling as an artist, experimenting with color and composition of the detritus of Katrina. His work soon became known for its pop sensibility as well as its hard-nosed politics. After a few starring roles in group shows, he had his first solo show in May 2008 at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans.

His Prospect.1: Biennial installation threw a spotlight on an overlooked piece of New Orleans history: a fire that swept through a French Quarter bar in 1973, killing everyone inside. The worst fire in New Orleans history has never been solved. His installation, "Remember the Upstairs Lounge," walked visitors right through the swinging bar doors, and offered visual riffs on politics and sexuality circa 1973. The piece was praised in Artforum Art In America, The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker, among others.

His first solo museum show, "Youth Manifesto", was an ode to punk rock as a force for social and cultural upheaval. True to form, the opening reception at New Orleans Museum of Art was shut down by police responding to the look of the unlikely art-going crowd.

In March of 2010, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery presented Fein's solo installation Skylar Fein: Rise of the Youth Front" at VOLTA Art Fair in New York during Armory Week. This installation drew thousands of people and delved in revolutionary politics past and present: a continuing theme in Fein's work. In December 2010, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery will present Skylar Fein at the Pulse Art Fair during Art Basel Miami Beach.


Skylar Fein was the recipient of a 2009 Joan Mitchell Foundation Award and his work is in several prominent collections including Beth Rudin DeWoody, Lawrence Benenson,The Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, The Louisiana State Museum and The Birmingham Museum of Art. and the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Jonathan Ferrara Gallery will present new works by Skylar Fein at the 2010 PULSE Contemporary Art Fair during Art Basel Miami Beach. Booth E300