Alli Gerrish brings six abstractions to Agora Gallery’s Mid-Century Modern show

Boulder-based artist Alli Gerrish will show six paintings in The Showroom: Mid-Century Modern at Agora Gallery in New York from Oct. 15 to Nov. 3, 2026. The exhibition pairs contemporary art with collectible Mid-Century Modern furnishings and spotlights Gerrish’s recurring hourglass motif and themes of vulnerability, balance and resilience.

Why it matters: - The exhibition places contemporary painting inside a furnished interior, showing how art and design can change the feel of a shared space. - Gerrish’s work uses mid-century visual cues to explore identity, time, and pressure on women, giving the show both aesthetic and social relevance. - The format may appeal to collectors and viewers interested in how fine art reads in a domestic setting, not just on a gallery wall.

What happened: - Boulder-based multidisciplinary artist Alli Gerrish will present six abstract paintings in The Showroom: Mid-Century Modern. - The show opens Oct. 15, 2026, and runs through Nov. 3, 2026, at Agora Gallery in New York. - Agora Gallery is presenting the exhibition with furniture design partner Dobrinka Salzman Gallery. - The exhibition will turn Agora’s skylight room into an immersive mid-century interior. - The Showroom pairs works by five contemporary artists with a curated selection of collectible Mid-Century Modern furnishings. - The opening reception is Thursday, Oct. 15, from 6–8 p.m. at Agora Gallery, 530 West 25th Street, New York.

The details: - Gerrish’s paintings feature organic forms, earthy hues, and hand-worked surfaces. - Her work is described as a fit for Mid-Century Modern design because it balances geometric structure with expressive irregularity. - The artist’s signature hourglass shape appears throughout the work as a stand-in for the self. - That hourglass motif is used to suggest both the passage of time and shifting human experience. - The striped hourglass form changes orientation across her paintings as circumstances evolve. - Weight A Minute (2024) serves as the visual anchor for Gerrish’s presentation. - The painting recalls the ordered geometry and graphic language of Mid-Century Modern design. - The work also contains a pale blue crescent at the top edge, a female figure partly hidden by a black-and-white grid, and bands of white that constrain the figure. - The painting addresses societal and systemic pressures placed on women. - Gerrish’s practice spans painting, digital painting, printmaking, mixed media, video, and narrative voiceover. - Her broader work moves between abstraction and symbolic representation to explore human emotion, energy, and lived experience. - Gerrish is based in Boulder, Colorado.

Between the lines: - The show uses furniture and painting together to make the gallery feel like a lived-in interior, not a neutral exhibition space. - Gerrish’s statement frames vulnerability as a strength, which aligns her practice with the mid-century emphasis on honest materials and visible craft. - The hourglass motif gives the work a consistent visual anchor while allowing multiple readings about identity, change, and pressure. - The curatorial pairing suggests that mid-century design still functions as a live reference point for contemporary artists, not just a historical style.

What’s next: - Viewers can see the exhibition during its run from Oct. 15 through Nov. 3, 2026. - The opening reception on Oct. 15 will offer the first public look at Gerrish’s work in the installed setting. - Gerrish’s presentation may draw attention to how her narrative abstraction translates within design-focused exhibitions.

The bottom line: - Gerrish’s show turns a gallery room into a staged mid-century environment, using abstraction and furniture design to make the case that contemporary art can be both contemplative and livable.