Victor Van at Open Studio Gallery

In Great Expectations, New York-based Open Studio Gallery presents the first solo exhibition by Victor Van. 

March 19 – April 25, 2026

Interact is delighted to announce the upcoming opening of Great Expectations, the first solo exhibition of painter and book artist Victor Van. The exhibition is presented by the New York-based Open Studio gallery.

Drawing from images and language gathered from the internet, radio, and American popular culture, Great Expectations brings together paintings that reflect the America Victor Van sees—expansive, saturated, and emotionally charged. Visions of triumph and excess sit alongside moments of familiarity, longing, and unease, forming a body of work that feels both overwhelming and intimate.

In the studio and in his work, Van is driven by acts of observation and gathering. Sifting through screenshots of movies, food, art history, kitsch, and current events, he translates fragments of the digital world into acrylic paintings marked by loose brushwork and saturated color. Beginning each piece with a graphite grid, Van resizes and paraphrases his source material, allowing meaning to shift through the process of translation. In the artist's words, images become both “excruciating” and “exhilarating,” altered just enough to feel newly alive.

Across the exhibition, Van’s paintings form a cumulative portrait shaped by excess and contradiction. Hollywood fantasy, visions of home and belonging, cloying sweetness, spectacle, and the domestication of the wild coexist within compositions that oscillate between critique and affection. Rather than resolving these tensions, Van sustains them—allowing humor, intensity, and ambiguity to remain fully present. Together, the works read as a compressed and deeply personal view of contemporary America, as filtered through Van’s singular eye.

Victor Van (b. 1993) has practiced at Interact since 2016. He has presented work in exhibitions throughout Minnesota and beyond, including at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, The White Page, Make Studio, the Cargill Gallery at Minneapolis Central Library, and the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota. In 2025, Van was featured in Interact’s booth at Open Invitational Miami, and in 2026 his work will be included in the Outsider Art Fair New York. Great Expectations marks his first solo exhibition.

EXHIBITION DETAILS

Great Expectations

March 19 – April 25, 2026

Open Studio Gallery | 127 Henry Street, New York, NY 10002

Learn more at openstudionyc.com

OPENING RECEPTION

Saturday, March 21, 6 – 9 p.m. | free and open to the public

Image (above): Victor Van, Clock Strikes Midnight by Thomas Kinkaide, 2022, acrylic on paper, 19 x 13.5 inches.