PHYSIQUE
PHYSIQUE
exhibition Opening Friday July 24, 2026
7:00 - 10:00 PM
free and open to the public
MIXER Saturday, August 22 from 4 - 6 pm
Exhibition runs through September 11
This summer, Kai Lin Art proudly presents PHYSIQUE, our first-ever juried exhibition dedicated entirely to figurative work. Bringing together a diverse cohort of contemporary artists from across the Southeast and beyond, the show is a sustained meditation on the human body — its anatomy, its posture, its poise, and its enduring capacity to move us.
Figuration is among the oldest impulses in art, and PHYSIQUE honors that lineage while pushing it forward. The exhibition spans an expansive range of styles and approaches — conceptual, classical, surreal, minimal, and intricate — with works rendered in painting, sculpture, and mixed media. What unites them is not a single aesthetic but a shared subject: the figure as a vessel for meaning, material, and transformation. Across the gallery's walls and pedestals, the human form appears fragmented and whole, quiet and charged, familiar and strange — each artist offering their own answer to what the body can hold and reveal.
The exhibition was juried by Luke Hamilton, an Atlanta-based illustrator, professor, and longtime gallery associate at Kai Lin Art. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design with both a BA and MA in Illustration, Hamilton brings a practiced eye shaped by years of figure drawing, gallery curation, and commercial illustration work across the city. His selections reflect both technical rigor and a genuine curiosity for how artists today are reimagining the body as subject.
Featured Artists Melissa Holmes, Ryan Lamfers, Julie Fordham, AnnMarie Jalmasco, Heather Olsen, David Clifton-Strawn, Kris Krava, Jess Self, Kevin Chambers, Charles Tryon, Charles Young Walls, Grayson Simon, Diana Eaves, Alicia Brooke, Shane McDonald, Chad Awalt, Saulee Smith, Greg Nott, Melvin Toledo, Lisa Matrundola, Diana Flowers, Kristin Cronic, Shannon Thomas, TJ Reese, Nancy Sumerall, Karen Graffeo, Alex Charner, David Carlton, Jamie Ballay, Morgan East, Miles Davis, Beth Grabish, Lars Finderup, Caroline Gates, and Astoria Jellett.
Together, these thirty-five artists form a wide-ranging portrait of contemporary figuration — a conversation carried out in flesh, form, and gesture. PHYSIQUE invites viewers to look closely, to linger, and to reconsider a subject as old as art itself through thirty-four distinct, contemporary lenses.
LUKE HAMILTON, JUROR
Currently residing in Alpharetta GA, Adjunct Professor at Georgia State University, Luke Hamilton holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA). He’s gained professional experience in art framing, large format printing, being a gallerist and instructional art education. Near the time of completion of his master’s degree at SCAD, he was a co-founder and curator of the Red Kite Studio in Savannah, GA, where he co-hosted several art shows and openings. He uses this past experience as a gallery associate at Kai Lin Art in West Midtown Atlanta, where he has been a vital part of the galleries’ prosperity, co-hosting shows, cataloging inventory, updating the website and many other daily duties.
For the past decade and a half Luke has also worked in graphic design, production, and installation, using multiple print applications at large format printing companies. He is a published free-lance illustrator with several clients including many advertising agencies within the Atlanta area. He is currently a member of the Sketch Atlanta Figure Drawing group and has co-hosted live figure drawing sessions at Hunter Studios in Marietta, GA. He has been participating in life drawing groups from the time of his graduation in 2007.
We hope you will join us to experience this celebration of creative exploration of the human form.