Brooklyn-based Houstonian Jennifer May Reiland's first U.S. solo show, titled Veronicas, will feature watercolor paintings and drawings that reflect the overlap of fantasy and reality in the digital age. Reiland depicts the collapsing space between reality and images in a post-9/11, post-Internet world. Her work is an examination of the unreal distance and false closeness technology creates: Between couples, between countries and between newsmakers and consumers.

Veronicas refers to Saint Veronica, the Catholic saint who wiped the face of Christ as he ascended Calvary to be crucified. The image of his face was said to miraculously appear on her veil. The name Veronica was later attributed to the woman, as well as to the veil, a derivation of the Latin phrase "vera icon" or "true image." 

Reiland's show contains several portraits of Saint Veronica as well as works that reference the idea of truth and images.

Reiland was born in Houston in 1989. She graduated from HSPVA in 2007 and continued her artistic education at Cooper Union in New York City and Universidad de Barcelona. Post-graduation, she received the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship, awarded annually to four young artists and musicians who wish to spend an academic year working on a project in Paris. While in Paris, her work was selected by the Franco-American Foundation for the Arts and Sciences for a solo exhibition at the Fondation des Etats-Unis. She also spent time in Spain where she began making work about connections between Spanish and American history. Upon returning to New York in 2014, Reiland was accepted as a resident at the Sharpe Walentas Space Program, and given a free studio in Brooklyn to work in from September 2014 through August 2015.

On view through Feb. 3, 2015.