Biography

Nola Zirin is a New York native and member of the American Abstract Artist Association (AAA), first founded in 1936. She received a BA from New York University, where she studied with Milton Resnick, George Ortman, and John Opper. In the early 1970s, Zirin also spent time in prolific printer Robert Blackburn’s workshop. For Zirin, color is a subject in itself, affecting visual perception and emotional energy. “I have a lot of secrets,” Zirin said in an interview. “I cover them up in my paintings.” Zirin’s work has been featured internationally with pieces in numerous public and corporate collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MOMA, and The Brooklyn Museum. In 2024, June Kelly Gallery presented her 10th solo exhibition in the space, “The Sound of Color.” Zirin currently maintains a studio in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York.

The focus of my work is geo-abstract thinking. Primary shapes, and the spaces between primary forms, the silent moments between thoughts and the shifting inside or outside of form - what that space represents through geo manifestation within the emptiness of space itself as it corresponds to define geo form. In this unexpected asymmetrical area, it prompts spatial discovery and occurrence - I find action, and resolve through execution.
- Nola Zirin 2022