Exhibitions

"In the Fray"

Paintings by Christian Breed

September 1 - October 21, 2026

Opening Reception | Tuesday, September 15, 12:30–3 p.m.

"In the Fray" is a solo exhibition of paintings by contemporary New York artist Christian Breed at the Brother Kenneth Chapman Gallery, located inside the JoAnn Mazzella Murphy '98H Arts Center. The exhibition will be on view September 1–October 21, 2026.

The gallery will host an opening reception on Tuesday, September 15, from 12:30–3 p.m. Admission to the exhibition and reception is free and open to the public.

"In the Fray" showcases Breed’s dynamic canvases, which navigate an intricate balance—and at times, an engagement—between abstraction and the human figure. This visual tension invites viewers into an active relationship with the artwork, prompting them to continuously search, imagine and decode the compositions.

Breed’s painterly language was honed through his experiences navigating major international urban centers and living and working in Italy. Central to this body of work is a profound exploration of materiality and illumination. In Breed’s own words, the paintings serve as “an exploration of light as the common root of vulnerability and power in textiles.”

About the Artist
Christian Breed (b. 1981, New York) received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and his MFA from Hunter College (CUNY). From 2003 to 2012, Breed lived and exhibited extensively in Italy, an experience that instilled in him a strong focus on the dialogue between historical strata and the present day.

He is a recipient of the Bronx Museum of the Arts AIM Fellowship and a Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO) award. His work has been featured in numerous notable exhibitions, including the AIM Biennial at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. He currently lives and works in New York.

Past Exhibitions

• Visual Arts Student Exhibition 2026 | Curated by Professor Thomas Ruggio & Professor Jeffrey Price
• Unbroken Gesture: Light, Lineage, and Living Tradition | works by Alina Wilczynski
• Looking in, Looking Out | works by Kelsey Gilmore 
• dependent / variable | works by Joseph Branciforte
• A Retrospective of Four Decades of Work | works by Dr. Jerome Levkov: Scientist and Artist
• Visual Arts Student Exhibition 2025 | Curated by Professor Thomas Ruggio & Professor Jeffrey Price
• RADICAL ACTION: Tracing Dorothy Day | Kristi Pfister
• The North Star | works by Diego Garcia
• The Women Dandies of The DRC: Dressing Dapper As Gendered Resistance In Central Africa | Photographs by Junior D. Kannah
• Love Your Mother | Jennie Thwing
• Visual Arts Student Exhibition 2024
• Carthage | Paintings by Fedele Spadafora
• The Gratitude Project: Paintings and Poetry by the US Poets Laureate
• Time is a River | Curated by Cara Lynch
• A Gift Of Light | Works by Br. Kenneth Chapman
• Visual Arts Student Exhibition 2023
• Saving Beauty: The Contemporary Icons of Threatened And Endangered Species of Angela Manno by Angela Manno
• My Own Rose-Tinted 3D Glasses by Werner Sun
• Dublin Bay by Liam Hourican
• FORMATION: Images of the Body by Tobi Kahn
• Personae by Carlos David
• Visual Arts Student Exhibition 2022
• The Weight of Optimism: Works by Heather Layton
• Considering the Goddess: A Survey of Sculptural Works by John Cino
• Cesare Dandini’s Holy Family with the Infant St. John: A Rediscovered Florentine Baroque Masterpiece
• A Hidden Wholeness: The Zen Photography of Thomas Merton*
• Art as a Spiritual Practice
• A Woman's Work..., Curated by Beth Giacummo
• Struggle - An Exhibit of Our Times, The Lincoln Park Conservancy, Inc.
• Female Gender Identity and Equality by the New York Society of Women Artists
• Unapologetically Me by Alvin Clayton
• Women in the Abstract: A Solo Exhibition by Award-Winning Artist, Steve Lyons
• Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition
• Plastic Paradise by Elena Kalman
• Female Gender Identity and Equality By New York Society of Women Artists (NYSWA)
• The Visual Arts Student Exhibition, curated by The Visual Arts Faculty
• SHE Voices: Expressions of Femininity, featuring Esther Kong Lo, Gloria Crouch-Nixon and Judith Weber.
• Influenced by Matisse: New Works by Alvin Clayton
• Shifting Focus: Hidden in Plain Sight, Curated by Rick Palladino
• More Fun Than Fun, featuring Andrea Beizer, Alysa Bennett, Ruby Silvious, Carol Taylor-Kearney, Peter Treiber, and Ruth Wolf