Karma presents Miniatures, a two-person show of works by sculptor Lukas Geronimas and painter Marley Freeman, on view from June 2 to July 7, 2023, at Karma’s bookstore, 136 East 3rd Street, New York.

In Miniatures, Freeman’s small-scale, abstract paintings of layered and woven color are presented alongside Geronimas’s lustrous, playful brass and wood sculptures. In addition to pieces by each artist, this exhibition also features collaborations by Geronimas and Freeman, which they created by sending works to each other by mail. For these, Freeman painted directly on the surface of several of Geronimas’s sculptures, and he in turn made artist’s frames for a series of her works on linen.

The following email exchange between the two artists describes the history and impact of their collaborations:

Lukas Geronimas:

Marley has been a painter since I’ve known her. I’m a fan of painting, but would never identify as a painter—mine is the world of objects. Objects can be painted on, and paintings can be tied to the wall by way of objects, so this all makes sense for the two of us. I know Marley well, I know a lot of things about her, but I’ll never know what exactly she’s doing in her paintings—the mechanics are evident but elusive. We get along great, our work gets along well too.

The thing that’s great about teaming up with Marley is that I can’t do the things she can do with an artwork, and she can’t do the things I can do, so the collaborative results are things neither of us could have done. I don’t think the result of our collaborations are better than our works made individually, but they arrive at a meaningful expression by way of a more complex mode; two instruments for one result. In this show we have pairings, and designated—or authorized—collaborations. You can see us playing our instruments next to each other, and you can see us playing our instruments with each other.

Marley Freeman:

When I lived in Greenpoint I needed a roommate, and so Lukas moved into a two-bedroom apartment with me and my ex-boyfriend and we lived together there for four or five years. During that time lots of things changed. The view changed. At one point we could see the empire state building, and then no more. I went from working in textiles to art handling and eight months of unemployment and trying to get all kinds of jobs, and I also had health problems and was constantly shuffling around the kitchen trying to heal. Lukas didn’t bother me and barely used the kitchen. At one point Lukas found a commission for a couple of friends for a new residential building. I was paid the most I’d ever been paid for anything for one large painting. With that money I slowly changed my life. I love the way Lukas works with materials. It feels like he can make anything out of anything. I also love that our working relationship is very natural. This is not a labored collaboration. There’s no notes or discussions. Just general warm expressions and packages. As a New York–based art worker the people I have often been closest to have been either roommates or co-workers. And Lukas fits snuggly in this category. We relate through making.

Marley Freeman (b. 1981, Lynn, MA) is a New York–based artist who combines the disciplines of abstract and representational painting. Her unique facture is characterized by the hand-mixed gesso, acrylic, and oils she uses to create meticulous, psychologically-charged color fields. Freeman’s distinct vocabulary of forms is made up of brushy strokes, color washes, and shapes that freely transform across the picture plane. The influence of textile design is evident in her close attention to the textural subtleties of her paints, and her reverence for their surface effects—their impressions in the warp and weft of the canvas. Recent solo exhibitions include Parker Gallery, Los Angeles (2023 and 2020); Karma, New York (2022 and 2019); Travesía Cuatro, Guadalajara (2021); Janice Guy at MBnb, New York (2018); PSM, Berlin (2017); and Cleopatra’s, New York (2015), among others. Freeman’s work is currently on view in New Abstracts at LACMA in Los Angeles.

Lukas Geronimas (b. 1980, Toronto, Canada) is a Los Angeles–based artist who employs painstaking attention to detail and the highest level of craft to create otherworldly sculptures that call into question preconceived notions of materiality and useful form. His work often contains found or gifted material that is obsessively reconditioned to become unrecognizable from its original state. It is through this alchemical process that his forms find meaning. Recent solo exhibitions include those held at Parker Gallery, Los Angeles (2022); David Petersen, Minneapolis (2022); and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (2021).