Leo Birthday: Group Exhibition

Boston, MA — LaiSun Keane is celebrating the month of August with Leo Birthday, on view from August 1 to 24, 2025 with works by Genevieve Cohn, Kyra Gregory, Isabelle Higgins, Calvin Kim, Eva Lewis, Kristen Liu-Wong, Campbell-Lynn McLean, Meghan Murray, and Jenny Olsen. Artists in this exhibition were invited to reflect on the theme of birthdays and to interpret its personal or symbolic significance through painting.

Genevieve Cohn’s Circle the Sun contemplates how we mark the passage of time. She notes, “So much of aging is recognizing that we are consistently scale-shifting in order to anchor ourselves in the complexity of our lives, and to make meaning in the day-to-day. I find something sweet and poetic about lighting small fires as an honoring of our yearly rotation around the sun.”

Isabelle Higgins approaches the theme with emotional depth, reflecting on the generational layers of celebration and loss. In Sunday Dinner, she paints herself three times: as a child peering through a window, as her current self seated amongst eggs, candles and cake, and in memory of her late father, evoking how birthdays evolve after the loss of a loved one.

Kristen Liu-Wong, in her signature style, created a manga-inspired party scene bursting with balloons, champagne, and cake, while other artists took a sweeter route with paintings of cake- especially scrumptious for birthday cake lovers!

The gallery is delighted to include nine artists from New York, Ohio, California, and Massachusetts in this birthday-themed exhibition. We have previously exhibited eight of them and are pleased to be working with Cohn for the first time.

Artist Bio:

Genevieve Cohn 

Genevieve Cohn, born in 1992, is originally from Vermont. She now lives and works in Boston. Having received her MFA from Indiana University, Cohn is a painter and visiting lecturer at Wellesley College, where she teaches courses in studio art. Her work has been featured at Hashimoto Contemporary in NYC and Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami, and internationally at Garten Gallery in Como, Italy and Jack Bell Gallery in London. She has also completed residencies at AiRgentum in Seville, Spain and The Fiore Art Center, among others. 

Kyra Gregory

Kyra Gregory, born in Virginia in 1996, is a Queens, New York-based artist with dual degrees in Gender Studies and Studio Art from Princeton University. Their work has been exhibited in solo and group shows at LaiSun Keane (Boston), as well as in Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. Their writing has appeared in Women’s Studies Quarterly, and they were awarded a grant from the Tallichet Freedman Foundation for visual artists in Ridgewood, NY.

Isabelle Higgins 

Isabelle Higgins is a Boston native, born in Malden MA in 1996. She graduated with a BFA in painting from MassArt, and has had her work exhibited in several Boston galleries, including LaiSun Keane, LaMontagne Gallery and Steven Zevitas Gallery. She has also completed residencies at Yale Norfolk, CT and the Vermont Studio Center, VT. Finally, she has received awards such as the Rob Moore Grant, the George Nick Prize, and the Marcia Lloyd Auction Award. 

Calvin Kim

Calvin Kim, born in Los Angeles in 1992, is a New York City-based artist with an MFA in Painting from Columbia University. His work has been featured in group exhibitions at LaiSun Keane (Boston), Joyce Goldstein Gallery, DeKalb Gallery (NY), and at art fairs including NADA Miami, NADA New York, and Future Fair NY. He has held solo exhibitions at Situations and Harper’s in New York, as well as an online show at powderfreevacuumsealed.com. Kim has been a Visual Arts Teaching Fellow at Columbia University and a resident at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Studio Program.

Eva Lewis

Eva Lewis, born in 1995 in Dayton, Ohio, holds an MFA in Painting from Boston University. She has completed a residency at the Mount Gretna School of Art (PA) and received the Three Arts Women Visual Arts Scholarship and the Elizabeth Greenfields Foundation Grant. Her work has been shown in solo and two-person exhibitions at LaiSun Keane in Boston, and in group shows at Abigail Ogilvy Gallery (Boston) and Gallery 263 (Boston), the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries (Dayton, OH), and Random Access Gallery (Syracuse, NY).

Kristen Liu-Wong

Kristen Liu-Wong, born in San Francisco in 1991, holds a BFA in Illustration from Pratt Institute. Now based in Los Angeles, she teaches at the Laguna College of Art and Design. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at Corey Helford Gallery (LA), Hashimoto Contemporary (San Francisco), StolenSpace Gallery (London), and Golden Hands Gallery (Hamburg). She has collaborated with brands such as Adult Swim, Ugg, RVCA, and Nooworks. In 2024, she curated and exhibited her work for the first time at LaiSun Keane in Boston.

Campbell-Lynn McLean

Campbell-Lynn McLean, born in 1999, is a Boston-based artist with a BFA in Painting from MassArt and is set to begin an MFA at Boston University. Their work has been featured in group exhibitions at Boston galleries including Alpha Gallery, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Gallery Very, Galatea Fine Art, and Gallery 263. They have received several awards, including the Stephen Paine Scholarship, George Nick Award, and Kofi Kayiga Auction Award, and were spotlighted by the Brookline Center for the Arts. Recent solo shows include Bromfield Gallery and LaiSun Keane. They are an upcoming resident at Upland Art Residency in Putnam, Vermont.

Meghan Murray

Meghan Murray was born in Boston in 1994, and is now based in the same city after receiving her MFA in painting from Boston University. She is a visiting lecturer at MassArt and has completed the Vermont Studio Center Residency, in addition to being a finalist for the Blanche E Coleman Award. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at Boston University and Wellesley College, as well as the Attleboro Arts Museum. She has also had a solo exhibition at the Aplomb Gallery in Dover NH. Meghan was included in a two person exhibition and two group exhibitions at LaiSun Keane. 

Jenny Olsen 

Jenny Olsen is a Boston-based artist with an MFA in 2D Fine Arts from MassArt. She is a recipient of the St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award and Grant. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at Massachusetts galleries including LaiSun Keane, Robert Collins Gallery, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, and Paul Estie Gallery. She has held solo exhibitions at the Southern Vermont Arts Center and the St. Botolph Club in Boston. Her artist residencies include the Southern Vermont Arts Center and MASS MoCA.

Location: LaiSun Keane, 460C Harrison Ave C8A Boston MA 02118

Website: www.laisunkeane.com

For media inquiries, images, or to schedule an interview, please contact Laisun Keane at laisun@laisunkeane.com.