'In Red' (2025) by Mimi Young

Acrylic and collage on canvas

30”h x 34”w unframed

Armed with a BFA in Drawing from Pratt Institute, Mimi’s career as a stylist allowed her to flourish in her birthplace NYC for over thirty years. However, she continuously kept her drawing and painting practice alive, eventually landing in upstate New York as a full-timer, all the while showing her work around the region.

Mimi’s use of color is influenced by her long years in the fashion industry, to be sure, yet they are not trivial or superficial (as neither is fashion, in fact). Her landing in fashion years ago was somewhat accidental yet it is a foundational element of her vision of the world, as is her immersion in the landscape of the Catskills. While the urban ephemera of graffiti, construction sites, people and posters continue to inform her work, the patina of life upstate provides evident inspiration these days.

As can be seen in Mimi’s signature use of found objects in her sculpture and assemblages, this artist is interested primarily in observation as a way into creating an artwork. As an abstract representational artist, Mimi describes of approach as one of continuously constructing, deconstructing and reconstructing her work.