Concurrently showing during Converge 45 at The Reser is We Are All Brothers, featuring North Pole Studio artists Mark Bishop and Nathan Ueno. This exhibition centers the enduring power of figuration as a language of memory, allegory, and collective imagination. Presented in partnership with North Pole Studio, a program dedicated to supporting artists with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities, the exhibition features new work by Mark Bishop and Nathan Ueno. At its core is an exploration of community—not as a fixed structure, but as an evolving network of relationships shaped by care, struggle, spirituality, and shared experience. 

Bishop’s monumental portraits evoke both resilience and vulnerability, capturing the depth and dignity of his subjects through luminous color, expressive brushwork, and close attention to the human face. Rooted in his spiritual beliefs, his paintings reflect a profound interest in the stories people carry and the connections that bind us together. Ueno’s figurative works employ bold color, deliberate linework, and symbolic imagery to explore the intersections of personal experience and collective memory. Together, their practices demonstrate how representations of the body can carry histories across generations while fostering empathy, recognition, and belonging. 

Both exhibitions examine the ways individuals and communities respond to instability, transformation, and connection. Through painting, video, music, and figurative representation, the artists explore how shared knowledge, memory, and imagination emerge across disciplines, generations, and lived experiences. While distinct in approach, both exhibitions reflect on what it means to be present with one another amid shifting identities, ecological precarity, media saturation, and social change. 

IMAGES: Beatrice Cannady, Mark Bishop & Hohokam Flute Player, Nathan Ueno