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New York, NY – Zepster Gallery proudly presents “Late Checkout“, a curatorial collaboration with Marlee Katz Snow on view from January 10th to February 7th, 2025. This exhibition showcases artists Andrea Luper, Aurora Abzug, Darien Bird, Jonathon Downing, Andrew Leventis, Alexandra Ruggieri, and Andrea Vail, united by a shared vision of art as an invitation to pause and reflect.

“Late Checkout” was presented to us by Marlee Katz Snow and I loved the concept of slowing down allowing for pause and reflection. Reed and I added a few artists we thought blended nicely and would help ground the show in a physical space. The overall show is very figurative and narrative which is a common thread in what Marlee and I gravitate towards curatorially.
- Devon Gordon, co-founder of Zepster Gallery

Late Checkout is designed as a mental retreat—a space where visitors can step away from the demands of daily life. The exhibition invites viewers into an intimate setting that offers freedom for imagination and introspection. Here, the works serve as windows to different perspectives on escape and self-reflection, creating an immersive and resonant cohesive experience.
“Late Checkout started as an idea for an art fair proposal with Andrew Leventis and evolved into something more dynamic with the support of Devon and Zepster Gallery. Their backing gave us the space and platform to expand the concept and bring in additional perspectives. As we added more artists, the show took shape as a cohesive and compelling body of work.”
- Marlee Katz Snow

Each artist explores themes of escape, introspection, and the preservation of fleeting moments. In this space, they touch on universal human experiences—whether longing for stillness in a fast-paced world or attempting to hold onto beauty and meaning amidst the ordinary. Late Checkout transforms the gallery into a temporary refuge where viewers can connect deeply with each piece, finding their moments of respite and reflection.

“Collaborating with Andrew, Devon, and these artists—all of whom I’ve worked with before—has been a privilege. This exhibition celebrates their talent and offers a much-needed moment for pause and reflection.”
- Marlee Katz Snow
With Late Checkout, Zepster Gallery invites everyone to linger a little longer, embrace the pause, and experience art’s unique ability to connect us with our inner worlds.

About The Artists
Alexandra Ruggieri’s work expresses escape through performance. She paints images of her self-styled persona, a surrogate character who navigates various aspects of social demands placed on women from adolescence to adulthood. Andrew Leventis’ vanitas paintings offer an interstitial retreat from time and decay. His suitcase and freezers hold and carry objects in a vain effort to protect and preserve them. Andrea Vail’s woven, tied, and looped assemblages of pre-owned objects speak to her interest in used, discarded, or obsolete items. Analogous to the other artists in Late Checkout, her work explores the ubiquitously vain pursuit of making the good things in life last despite an awareness that we must always leave them behind. Each artist embraces this conscious pause, encapsulating the moment of suspension before turning back into the proverbial pumpkin.

Aurora Abzug received her BA in Studio Art from Bard College and additional training in academic painting from The Ridgewood Art Institute. She has exhibited at venues such as The Salmagundi Club, New York, NY; San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA; New York Academy of Art, New York, NY; and Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, IL. Her work resides in the permanent collection of Lore Degenstein Gallery at Susquehanna University. She has received mentions in the press by Artnet and Artsy. Her past residencies and awards include the AXA Art Prize Finalist, Nes Artist Residency, Skagaströnd, Iceland, and The Sable Project, Stockbridge, VT.

Alaska-born painter Andrea Luper came to NYC to attend SVA as a Silas H. Rhodes scholarship recipient, graduating in 2022 with a BFA in illustration. Somewhere between Bouguereau and Bob’s Burgers, Luper paints the nude with equal parts mockery and reverence of the tradition.
She looks for authenticity in private moments, each work, and a colorful and cathartic exploration of her experiences fueled by feminism and critical capitalist efforts to colonize our dwindling attention spans. With compassion and humor, she highlights the overwhelming nature of modern millennial life.
Darien Bird is a painter based in Salem, Massachusetts. Her work addresses the lingering influence of male emotion over portrayals of female bodies, identities, and experiences. Darien grew up in New England and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University in 2011.

Jonathon Downing is an oil painter whose portraits craft conversations about public image and internal truth through the lens of the professional Basketball fan. He created his unique aesthetic while studying at the University of Michigan. Since graduating in 2020, he has continued to refine the process of digital photo montage and realistic painting for which he is becoming known. While Downing was raised and currently resides in the Metro Detroit area, the subjects he paints reside in an alternate reality where human beings are monstrous amalgamations of portraiture. Surprisingly organic and honest, these portraits simultaneously depict the Basketball fans and the superstars they idolize, promoting deeper observation to fully form a hypothesis on each character’s backstory and present emotions. Downing has shown these characters in United States galleries from coast to coast and is included in national and international collections.

Andrew Leventis makes meticulously rendered oil paintings of contemporary vanitas, a motif popularized in early still life in which food, flowers, and other perishable objects represent the fleeting nature of life and the passing of time. Leventis received an MFA in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and an MA in Fine Art from Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts London. He has exhibited recently at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow, Poland (2024); Novilla, Berlin (2023) the Mint Museum Uptown, Charlotte, NC (2022); the Venice Arsenale, Italy (2021); and York Art Gallery, UK (2021). He lives and works in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Alexandra Ruggieri is an emerging artist whose work, inspired by her persona, delves into nuanced and perplexing stories connected to her inner child and teenager, often drawing from pop culture. Her practice involves drawing, painting, and photography, re-creating subjects from different perspectives and styles. Alexandra’s art aims to evoke deep connections, inviting viewers to resonate with her emotions and stories.

Andrea Vail is an interdisciplinary artist based in Western North Carolina who makes connections between objects, people, or their collective communities. Vail earned a BFA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Venues exhibiting her work include Form & Concept, Santa Fe, NM; Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC; Wiregrass Museum of Art, Dothan, AL; Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; Hodges Taylor Gallery in Charlotte; Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago, IL; and Toricho Art Festival, Fujisawa City, Kanagawa, Japan.

About Zepster Gallery
Zepster Gallery was founded in 2024 by Devon Gordon and Reed Chojnacki. The gallery exhibits bright and bold artists that are on the pulse of the zeitgeist. Zepster bridges the gap between eager collectors and emerging and mid-career artists. Zepster has been featured in Artspiel, Whitehot Magazine, and Impulse Magazine.

About Marlee Katz Snow
Marlee Katz Snow is an artist liaison and gallerist with roots in Miami and Brooklyn. Her experience spans working closely with artists, curating exhibitions, and partnering with art advisors, giving her a well-rounded perspective on the art world.
In 2020, she founded the late great Tchotchke Gallery in Brooklyn, a space dedicated to emerging talent. The gallery quickly gained recognition, hosting a range of exhibitions featured in Harper’s Bazaar, ArtNet, and Cultured Magazine, all while focusing on uplifting new voices in the art scene.
With her current venture, Collect Bean, Marlee champions artists directly from their studios, creating an open and transparent space for art collectors. She is committed to supporting creatives and fostering authentic connections—always prioritizing the artist’s journey and growth. With a strong foundation in relationship building, business operations, curation, and sales, Marlee brings a thoughtful, artist-centric approach to all art-world endeavors.

Notes
Exhibition Title: Late Checkout
Dates: January 10th to February 7th, 2025
Location: Zepster Gallery, 220 Bogart Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206 Opening Reception: January 10th from 7-10 pm EST
Website: https://www.zepstergallery.com/
Social: @zepstergallery, @marleekatz