UNB15! Artist Features: VII
UNBOUND15!
July 1 – August 8, 2026
NICK ORTOLEVA • WILL DOUGLAS • RICK WRIGHT • NICK GLADKIY & YULIIA GLADKA
NICK ORTOLEVA | BOSTON, MA
Archival pigment print,
33 x 25 inches framed
Edition #1 of 8 + 2AP
$1200
Adapting the routines and the rituals of celebration, leisure, and connecting to a place’s past and histories is what moves me. It is what I have always known, and it does not beg to be questioned. It comes from those in your family, those in your community, those who are important to you, those you hold close. It comes in various shapes at different times, always with a familiarity that is undeniable.
Means of celebration take shape by word of mouth, often by sharing stories, flipping through photo albums, or even being transposed onto a plate, at a large table surrounded by laughter and crying after some drinks. Fragments of family members I never got to meet and what it was like growing up with a big family filled with brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles in the house next door transport me there as if I too was a kid running around.
Intergenerational storytelling is a way of connecting to my past and present. I carry the stories passed down in my family's home that has seen four generations. I am also the keeper of a handful of legal documents and pictures gifted from my foster family to my mother. Wielding a makeshift archive of a brief time as an infant with an unknown family and endless stories about love, epic travels, and lifelong friendships leave me with remnants and pieces of what feels to be an incomplete story, an unpunctuated clause with a gap in between the known and unknown.
Between Here and Home aims to create a space linking birthplace and a place you owe your everything. Inspired by non-linear essay narratives and an emotional and vivid methodology of storytelling, I set out with a camera to respond to, reflect on, and bridge these ideas of origin, identity and belonging. The work takes form in a sort of love letter addressing the two, one known and the other unknown, familiarizing the two with one another to coexist in a singular shared space, as one thought, as one breath. I look to compose and sculpt immersive tableau scenes and still lifes, weaving together the two parts of my very being and upbringing in an ongoing exploration of these two opposing truths congregating, an unresolved origin story and to continue to sculpt a memoir of my own. Images steep and reminisce on enactments of stories told and reflect often on personal relationships, the connection between memory and time and what an active inquiry into the knowns and unknowns can look like.
Me, As a Tourist, 2026. Archival pigment print, 33 x 25 inches framed. Edition #1 of 8 + 2AP. $1,200
Nick Ortoleva (b. 2002) is a Korean-American Photo-based Artist working within the medium as a means to document and compose an ongoing investigation on identity, place, and its histories.
Frequently inspired by family heritage and the routines and rituals of those in his community, he continues to write a memoir of his own; by referencing archival images, refl ecting on intergenerational stories, and by adapting non-linear narratives structured from styles of essays.
He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where he was awarded the Gertrude Kasebier McPhee Grant (23’) and the Gertrude Kasebier Palmer/Tourlentes Travel Grant (24’). With the travel grant, he traveled to his birthplace: Seoul, to begin a project, which is still in progress; refl ecting on place, identity, and upbringing. Nick has shown his work from the Grant, “to you, from seoul” at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and the Griffi n Museum of Photography. He has also exhibited work in group shows at Abigail Ogilvy SoWA, Panopticon Gallery, Photographic Resource Center Boston, and the Griffi n Museum of Photography.
WILL DOUGLAS | NY/FL
up she, 2026. Polaroid, 12.5 x 10 inches, 20 x 16 inches framed. Unique. $1,400 framed.
Polaroid,
12.5 x 10 inches,
20 x 16 inches framed
Unique.
$1,400 framed
Point Break is a series of works that antagonizes the photographic image through form. I deconstruct Polaroid film by separating it from itself, revealing its inside chemistry. I began this body of work in 2018 at a residency in Russia, where I found myself challenged by the limitations of space and resources, and I wanted to comment on the over-production of the photographic medium. I made one piece in this manner during that time. Throughout the winter of 2025-2026, I revisited this series and focused solely on producing these works. I dissect and destroy my own personal polaroids, use photographs donated to the project, and collect polaroids from flea markets and the internet. In the studio, I first slice the works along their sealed edge and pull them apart by hand, exposing the interior makeup of this photographic object. Once separated, no two halves are combined in the same composition. I focus on reconstructing these unique images into works that do not depict pictorial space but instead reference the space of abstract paintings or drawings through photographic media. I work on these artworks first flat on a table, then on the wall, building layers together with the others. I use images that span generations and piece them together to create an image for contemplation, where I see the viewer being focused on a new, unique image. I am interested in how this work functions visually on its front side, combining line, color, and form, using the language of minimalism. I am equally interested in the back side of these artworks, not being seen but considered as a space to question loss, and to imagine what is there.
Will Douglas (b. 1988, Charleston, SC) is an artist whose work navigates the intricate intersection of photography and sculpture. He earned his BFA in Photography and Film from VCUarts in 2012 and his MFA in Studio Art in 2015. His solo exhibitions include Spitting into the Wind at Bob's Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Gone to the Dogs and Montage River at Tempus Volta (Tampa, FL), and Drawing on the Hearts of Men at Quaid Gallery (Tampa, FL). Douglas’s work has also been featured in group exhibitions at notable venues such as the Tampa Museum of Art (Tampa, FL), the Light Factory (Charlotte, NC), and the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, FL. In 2015, Douglas co-founded Parallelogram Gallery, an artist-run space in Tampa, FL, which expanded to Brooklyn in 2025, further cementing his commitment to supporting creative communities. In 2018, he was awarded an artist residency at SPAR in St. Petersburg, Russia. His monograph, FLAT PICTURES (YOU CAN FEEL) (2019), is housed in both public and private collections. Douglas currently splits his time between Brooklyn, NY, and St. Petersburg, FL
RICK WRIGHT | PHILADELPHIA, PA
Pigment Print from scan
of Bromide-Lith original,
30 x 24 inches
Edition of 10
$1,500 print, $1,950 framed
Slotnick Pavilion NYC, 2025. Pigment Print from scan of Bromide-Lith original, 30 x 24 inches. Edition of 10. $1,950 framed
I’m playing the role of an imaginary late-19th Century paper architect. A designer who never built a single building but somehow presaged The Bauhaus, Arts & Crafts, Brutalism, Modernism.
One day, I grabbed a a 3”x3”x3” puzzle cube and recreated some iconic buildings from memory. The structures were crafted using just 7 unique 3-D pieces. I used both a red-plastic set and a stained-wood set to construct the "architecture.” I moved on to crafting my own buildings.
These structures are lit with strobe and photographed with a 4x5 studio film camera. The darkroom prints are made with damaged/out-of-date bromide paper, developed in 100-degree Lith chemistry. This paper-developer combo produces something very akin to a decayed, browned, faded charcoal/graphite drawing—locating the prints squarely in the hand-drawn style of late 19th century architectural illustration. I wanted a sense of finding a water-damaged 150-year-old folio of sketches.
The patient and accurate camerawork butting up against the abject chaos and unrepeatability of the Lith printing process is a primary joy in this work. Once I have an original print that hits all the buttons, I make a scan and move on to larger archival inkjet prints.
Rick Wright trained as a painter at Princeton and Columbia Universities (BA and MFA). He later morphed into a photographer with studies at ICP in New York with Nan Goldin, Danny Lyon, and Susan Meiselas. He’s been a photographer for three decades, showing his work nationally and internationally.
Recent exhibits & publications & permanent collections include:
Peter Cohen Collection book “Re:Collection”; SOHO Gallery NYC “Color Show”; Blue Sky Gallery’s “Top 50” in Portland, The Halide Project’s “Living Image” in Philadelphia, a LensWork magazine cover & portfolio, plus two Paper Architect prints acquired by the Haverford Art Collection.
Outside of his fine art career, Rick photographs architecture professionally, rides a Triumph Bonneville, and teaches analog film photography at Fleisher Art Memorial and The Halide Project. Rick keeps his studio in Fish Town, Philly.
NICK GLADKIY & YULIIA GLADKA | KYIV, UKRAINE
Archival pigment print,
8 x 11 inches
Edition #1 of 10
$300
Flooded memories #2, 2023. Archival pigment print, 8 x 11 inches. Edition #1 of 10. $300 framed.
Archival pigment print,
8 x 11 inches
Edition #1 of 10
$300
Flooded memories #17, 2023. Archival pigment print, 8 x 11 inches. Edition #1 of 10. $300 framed.
This work is built around found photographs — pulled from the debris of flooded homes, soaked through and slowly dissolving back into the material world. Water and time did their work: bleaching, warping, leaving some images half-erased and others strangely intact.
While volunteering in the aftermath of dual devastation — the war and the catastrophic flood caused by the Russian military's destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in June 2023 – we recovered family photo albums from the ruins. Nearly all black-and-white images had been erased by water, reduced to blank sheets. What survived were a few dozen color photographs from the 1990s, visibly marked by prolonged submersion: warped, stained, altered in emulsion and surface.
The photographs center on one family. A man appears in a wheelchair and on crutches — at 25, he became disabled after a motorcycle accident. For two decades, from that wheelchair, he raised his son. After his death, the son inherited the house. When the full-scale invasion began, the son enlisted in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, was captured, survived, returned to service after rehabilitation. His current fate is unknown. All images are presented with the permission of the homeowner.
Nick Gladkiy,1988 (Dnipro, Ukraine)
Based in Kyiv, Ukraine, and have a background in International Economic Relationships.
My journey with photography started in 2013, using it as a means of personal expression and creative exploration over the years.
My artistic practice evolved around 2018 when I began to experiment with analog photography and alternative photographic methods. This was part of my quest to discover a wider array of tools to convey aesthetic and conceptual ideas.
In 2020, I became part of the MYPH Photography School in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, and subsequently attended the 2021 Photography Course led by Roman Pyatkovka.
My objective is to craft compelling imagery that stimulates thought and incites discussions around the role technology plays in shaping our reality. I fuse traditional photographic techniques with advanced technologies, such as Machine Learning and Computer Vision, to engage viewers in critical reflections about their relationship with technology and its impact on our lives.
Yuliia Gladka is an artist, photographer, and initiator of the volunteer project "Mystetska Rukhan'ka" (Art in Motion), which supports the cultural development of children in de-occupied communities of the Kherson region.
They are based in Kyiv and work on both collaborative and individual projects.
