ABOUT

There is a moment — just before a wave breaks, or when light hits an open field at a certain angle — where everything feels both enormous and still. That is where Alison Scherr paints from.

THE WORK

Alison Scherr is a New Jersey-based contemporary abstract painter whose work draws from a deep reverence for light, space, and emotion found in nature and architecture. Her paintings are sweeping and physical — born from an acute awareness of her own movement and the world around her. Working with acrylic, latex, oil, pastel, ink, and spray paint across canvas, plexiglass, metal, and drop cloth, she builds luminous, large-scale works with atmospheric depth and emotional resonance.

Her process begins outside — in nature, in museums, in architecture — where images and ideas gather quietly before arriving on the canvas. Once painting begins, her entire body moves with the paint, exploring her wingspan and how she moves with each mark. She then layers graphic and symbolic elements to articulate a hidden dialogue with the natural world. Each work is built through intuitive layering, resulting in surfaces that feel both settled and alive.

"Find the wave and keep riding." — Alison Scherr

BACKGROUND

Scherr holds a BFA in Photography from Syracuse University. After college she worked in New York City as a photographer before building a career as a prop stylist, creating sets for clients including Condé Nast, Bloomingdale's, and Jameson. That eye for composition and material — and for looking beyond the expected — now lives in every painting she makes.

COLLECTIONS & INSTALLATIONS

Scherr's work is held in distinguished private and public collections including Bass, Berry & Sims, Cornell Dubilier, and SJG Properties — where a commissioned piece hangs in the lobby of their Southern Building in Washington, DC, adjacent to the White House. Private collectors include Geoffrey Connor & Robert Carina, Christy Moynihan Johnson, and Kenneth & Meaghan Pizzo, among others.

Major permanent installations include Cornell Dubilier in New Bedford, Massachusetts (2024) and Bass, Berry & Sims in Washington, DC (2022). A solo exhibition is scheduled at the Center for Contemporary Art, New Jersey in 2027.

BIG SHIFTS

The Big Shifts series is among Scherr's most commanding work. Bold, large-scale marks evoke the open sky and the force of ocean waves. To achieve the breadth these paintings demand, Scherr crafts her own brushes by hand — tools built specifically for the scale and freedom the work requires. Rooted in years of observing light and sky across many parts of the world, these paintings translate vast, fleeting moments into abstract works that pulse with movement and atmosphere.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2027 — Solo Exhibition, Center for Contemporary Art, New Jersey 2026 — Group Show, Silvermine Gallery, Connecticut 2026 — Group Show, Whittemore Gallery, New Jersey 2025 — Solo Show, Private Residence, New Jersey 2024 — Solo Exhibit, Pottersville and Main, New Jersey 2024 — Permanent Installation, Cornell Dubilier, New Bedford, Massachusetts 2023 — Artist in Residence, Blairsden Mansion, New Jersey 2022 — Solo Exhibit, Somerset Hills Art Collective, New Jersey 2022 — Installation, Bass, Berry & Sims, Washington, DC 2022 — Installation, Porter Advisory / The Yard, Brooklyn 2021 — The Other Art Fair, Brooklyn 2021 — Solo Exhibit, The Highline Nine, New York City 2021–2023 — Artist in Residence, Whittemore, New Jersey 2019 — The Other Art Fair, Chicago 2019 — Featured Artist, Gigantic Studios, New York City 2018 — Permanent Collection, SJG Properties, Washington, DC 2017 — Solo Show, Riverside Gallery, New Jersey 2017 — Artist in Residence, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont 2016 — Group Show, Bloomfield College Art Gallery, New Jersey 2014 — Featured Artist, The Han Horse, New York City

COLLECT & INQUIRE

Originals, commissions, large-scale installations, and high-resolution prints are available. Gallery representation and collection inquiries are welcome. studio@alisonscherr.com

CV

2026 Group Show, Silvermine Gallery, Connecticut

2026 group show, whittemore Gallery, New Jersey

2025 Solo Show, Private residence, New Jersey

2024 Solo Exhibit, Pottersville and Main, New Jersey

2023 Artist in Residence, Blairsden Mansion, New Jersey

2022 Solo Exhibit, Somerset Hills Art Collective, New Jersey

2022 Installation, The Yard,Brooklyn

2021 The Other Art Fair, Brooklyn

2021 Solo Exhibit, The Highline Nine, NYC 

2019 The Other Art Fair, Chicago

2019 Featured Artist, Gigantic Studios, NYC

2018 Permanent Collection, SJG Properties, Washington, DC

2017 Solo Show, Riverside Gallery, New Jersey

2016 Group Show, Bloomfield College Art Gallery, New Jersey

2016 Group Show, Riverside Gallery, New Jersey

2015 Group Show, Riverside Galley, New Jersey

2014 Featured Artist, The Han Horse, New York City

PRESS

NEW JERSEY MONTHLY MAGAZINE

SEPTEMBER 2024

Larger Than Life

IN SECTION: GARDEN VARIETY TASTEMAKER

This Somerset County artist captures the marvel of nature in a big way.

BROAD STROKES Painter Alison Scherr of Peapack favors industrial materials to depict nature’s light and patterns in her dramatic artwork.

"Ilove that art has the ability to connect people to their higher selves," says artist Alison Scherr of Peapack. With her reputation for painting emotive, larger-than-life interpretations of the movement of light and patterns in nature, Scherr has amassed a steadily growing fan base.

She began her career as a photographer in New York City, collaborating with magazine and record-label clients, often adding a layer of paint to her images. She later evolved into a prop stylist, designing still-life sets for ad campaigns and magazines for such luminaries as Condé Nast and Bloomingdale’s.

"As a photographer, I captured people and created elaborate costumes and magical worlds," she says. "But when I moved to the New Jersey countryside in 2012, my world and physical space opened up, and I began painting full-time. The subject matter of my paintings started with people, then moved to florals and, more recently, to abstracts on canvas. I also create representational plexiglas paintings that sometimes include hidden messages."

The most monumental painting she has sold thus far, Field Burn ll, is 7 by 9 feet and hangs in an art collector’s light-filled, modern home in Wyoming. "I sell a lot of paintings directly to collectors, both established and first-time art buyers," she explains. "I often work with interior designers and also love making pieces for corporate spaces." Her art has been exhibited in several states, and a large commissioned piece hangs in Washington, DC, in the lobby of a building adjacent to the White House.

Scherr has worked out of multiple studios, recently at Whittemore Nature Preserve in Oldwick, and also in a privately owned manor house. "Now I’ve taken over our dining room and living room, where incredible, big windows let the light come in," she says. (Scherr lives in what she calls the Hobbit House, a former water-cistern structure built into the side of a berm.) She typically paints her oversized canvases on the floor, unstretched, using industrial materials. "I like the support of the floor beneath, and it gives me the flexibility to walk around, or on top of, the canvas. My paint strokes are very broad and splashy, and the process requires a lot of physical effort," she notes. "As I create with a mix of house paint, ink, pastels and spray paint, I turn off my thoughts and allow music to guide my movements."

A curated collection of Scherr’s work resides at Pottersville and Main, an interior-design studio and retail shop in Gladstone, just a stone’s throw from her home. "I love working with owners John and Geoffrey," she says. "In fact, we’re collaborating on a collection to debut in their space soon." Scherr also plans to launch a bespoke jewelry line when the leaves begin to fall.

— Susan Brierly Bush

To view the artist’s work, visit AlisonScherr.com or @AscherrArt on Instagram.

BIO

Alison Scherr is a New Jersey based artist with work in private family collections and institutions such as SJG Properties in Washington DC, where a commissioned piece hangs in the lobby of their Southern Building, adjacent to the White House. Scherr has exhibited her work in venues including Riverside Gallery, NJ, The Other Art Fair - Chicago, Bloomfield College Gallery and the Han Horse, NYC. She was artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center. Scherr studied photography and received a BFA from Syracuse University. After college, she moved to New York City where she worked as a photographer then segued into a career as a prop stylist, styling sets for clients including Jameson, Conde Nast & Bloomingdales. 

Scherr's experience as a stylist enhanced her natural inclination to look beyond the expected. Now a full time painter, Alison uses industrial materials as her canvas, juxtaposing them with natural graphic elements. She interprets the movement of light and patterns in nature, images unaltered by the human hand. Her work contains elements of the unfinished and abstract. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am a painter interpreting the movement of light and patterns in nature, images unaltered by the human hand. Using a mix of house paint, ink, pastel and spray paint, I create sometimes large scale paintings on drop cloth, plexiglas or sheet metal that are evocative of stopped moments of time. 

My process often begins with quickly pulling and dropping paint across the canvas, exploring my wingspan and how I move with the paint. I then layer graphic or symbolic marks to articulate a hidden dialogue in the natural world. My work explores the themes of unspoken language through movement and layering of color. Like nature, my paintings have an element of the unfinished and spontaneous.