One Contemporary Gallery marked its first year in Atlanta with “Inner Views: Artists at Home,” a group exhibition that reimagines domestic spaces as sites of memory, reflection, and reinvention.
On view inside the Edgewood Avenue gallery, the exhibition features work by 14 contemporary artists, many of them created specifically for the anniversary show. Together, the works explore how ideas of home, intimacy, and community are shaped by lived experience.
The exhibition text describes Inner Views as a “collective musing on home, family and community,” using interior and lifestyle scenes to examine both everyday moments and deeper cultural histories.
Gallery director and curator Faron Manuel said the exhibition reflects both the growth of the gallery and the willingness of artists to take creative risks.
“It feels really good to be in the community in this way and to have people excited to come out to an anniversary exhibition,” Manuel said. “The artists really wanted to push themselves to the point where nearly half of the works in the show were created for this exhibition.”
Manuel said the gallery is currently showing approximately 25 pieces, including a collaborative work by Petie Parker and Paper Frank that expanded the original artist list. One year in, he views the gallery’s progress as both measurable and personal.
“We’ve clearly become one of the recognizable galleries in Atlanta,” Manuel said, noting that One Contemporary was recently named in Atlanta Magazine’s “Best of Atlanta” issue. “But personally, I feel humbled. There’s a lot of unseen work that goes into putting a show like this together, and it means a lot to have the approval of the artists and the community.”
The exhibition’s focus on interiors allows artists to interpret home as both a physical and emotional space. Painter Ariel Danielle contributes The Morning After, a work centered on food as a shared experience.
“I’m still thinking about food as a subject and how it brings people together,” Danielle said. The painting depicts an intimate morning scene of waffles, matcha and jam shared with an unseen companion. “It could be anybody, a loved one, a friend, a family member. The viewer gets to decide.”
Danielle, who also participated in the gallery’s inaugural exhibition, said the theme made the work a natural fit.
“It’s intimate, it’s inside,” she said. “That really aligns with the idea of home.”
Artist Jurrell Cayetano has three works on display: Jay at the Community Farm, Panther (Profile), and Paula (Asleep). Cayetano said Jay at the Community Farm was inspired by a photograph taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was one of the first times being in contact with someone after a few months of quarantining,” Cayetano said. “Jay offered to give us some eggs from the chickens at their community farm.”
Cayetano said participating in the anniversary exhibition feels both reflective and communal.
“It feels great, kind of like a class reunion in a sense,” he said.
For artist Petie Parker, the exhibition also became an opportunity for spontaneous collaboration. His acrylic-on-canvas work Rent Free was completed in roughly 24 hours and features contributions from Paper Frank, a longtime creative partner.
“He was just in the studio, and he walked over and started drawing,” Parker said. “The imagery and the words were so powerful that I knew I had to build around it.”
The piece depicts a young figure immersed in imagination, reflecting Parker’s belief that creativity often begins in isolation.
“You might have minimal tools, but if you have your mind, you’re good,” Parker said. “There are no limits or rules to art.”
Veteran curator Tina Dunkley, a mentor to Manuel and former director of Clark Atlanta University’s museum, attended the opening and praised the strength of the work on view.
“I saw some really strong work by very accomplished artists,” Dunkley said. “The subjects and materials are engaging, and Faron Manuel is doing an awesome job.”
Dunkley said the exhibition reflects a broader shift in contemporary art, where artists feel freer to experiment without institutional pressure.
“It’s invigorating,” she said. “Learning about the artists and their materials without the stress of wondering if the work will end up in a major museum makes this a very pleasant time.”
Manuel said the gallery is also investing in the future of the arts by welcoming student interns from Georgia State University and the Savannah College of Art and Design, offering hands-on exposure to the inner workings of galleries and the art market.
For Manuel, the anniversary exhibition is less about marking time and more about momentum.
“It means a lot to have the artists believe in the space and for the community to show up,” he said. “That’s how you know you’re building something that matters.”
“Inner Views: Artists at Home” is on view at One Contemporary Gallery, 395 Edgewood Ave.