Caffè Sospeso
A First NYC Solo Exhibition by Tatjana Krizmanic
October 28 – November 22, 2025
In Naples, there is a tradition called caffè sospeso: when buying a coffee, you quietly pay for a second one, leaving it “suspended” for a stranger who may need it later. This small, anonymous act of generosity carries with it a simple but profound truth—sometimes the most ordinary gestures can brighten someone’s day.
With her first New York solo exhibition, internationally recognized artist Tatjana Krizmanic translates this tradition into paint. Her vivid, figurative canvases—full of color, movement, and intimacy—become offerings in themselves: moments of stillness, memory, and connection left for others to receive.
“Painting, for me, is an act of generosity. Like a sospeso, each work carries the hope that it will brighten someone’s day, connect them to a memory, or simply remind them of beauty. In sharing these moments, my wish is that the exhibition feels like a gift—something quietly offered for whoever needs it.”
Join us at Pleiades Gallery for this luminous celebration of beauty, kindness, and shared humanity.
Opening Reception: November 6, 2025
Open House + Artist Demonstration: November 8, 2025
Location: Pleiades Gallery, Landmark Arts Building, 547 West 27th Street, Suite 304, New York, NY
PRESS RELEASE
Caffè Sospeso: New Paintings by Tatjana Krizmanic
Pleiades Gallery, Chelsea, NYC
Exhibition on view: October 28 – November 22, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 6, 6–8 pm
New York, NY — Pleiades Gallery is proud to present Caffè Sospeso, the first New York solo exhibition of painter Tatjana Krizmanic. On view from October 28 through November 22, 2025, the exhibition will officially open with a reception on Thursday, November 6, 6–8 pm at Pleiades Gallery in Chelsea.
Drawing its title from the Neapolitan tradition of leaving a “suspended coffee” for a stranger, Caffè Sospeso explores themes of quiet generosity, everyday beauty, and the unspoken connections that bind us. Krizmanic’s vivid canvases—rooted in post-Impressionist color and expressive gesture—invite viewers into moments of intimacy and openness, offering small acts of empathy in painted form.
This exhibition follows Krizmanic’s recent landmark show Echoes of a Kingdom at the Wangduechhoeling Palace Museum in Bhutan, the first solo exhibition by a Western artist in the country’s history.
Exhibition Details:
• Caffè Sospeso: New Paintings by Tatjana Krizmanic
• On view: October 28 – November 22, 2025
• Opening Reception: Thursday, November 6, 6–8 pm
• Location: Pleiades Gallery, Landmark Arts Building, 547 West 27th Street, Suite 304, New York, NY 10001
About the Artist
Tatjana Krizmanic’s paintings inhabit the luminous space between tradition and immediacy. With a practice spanning over four decades and exhibitions worldwide, her work combines expressive brushwork, psychological depth, and an unwavering commitment to celebrating beauty.
Curatorial Essay
Caffè Sospeso: Generosity and Grace
The tradition of caffè sospeso—buying a coffee not for oneself, but for an unseen stranger—grounds Tatjana Krizmanic’s first New York solo exhibition in a spirit of quiet generosity. Each work in Caffè Sospeso can be understood as such an offering: a painting “paid forward,” imbued with color, gesture, and memory, waiting for someone else to receive it.
Krizmanic’s paintings open onto a spectrum of human experience, unfolding in four distinct but interwoven registers: the intimate still life, the domestic or interior space, the crowded city scene, and the expansive landscape. What unites them is not subject matter but sensibility—a way of seeing that insists on beauty not as escape but as a form of shared humanity.
The Still Life as Gift
Her still lifes, such as Red Pitcher, vibrate with saturated color and compositional clarity. Everyday objects—a jug, a bowl of fruit, a patterned cloth—become luminous presences, invested with affection and attention. In these works, the act of looking itself is elevated into generosity, reminding us that small things, when seen with care, can carry meaning far beyond themselves.
Portraits of Presence
In her portraits, like Red, the intimacy of human presence comes forward. Krizmanic does not simply record likeness; she creates a space of interiority. The sitter is simultaneously grounded in her patterned surroundings and set apart from them, suspended in a moment of thought or reverie. These portraits affirm individuality while also inviting the viewer into a shared emotional register—quiet, contemplative, humane.
The City as a Chorus
At the opposite end of the spectrum are her bustling cityscapes—Umbrellas on 42nd Street, Summer in Tribeca, Tribeca Rooftops. Here, Krizmanic turns her gaze to the urban throng, capturing the movement, music, and color of collective life. Crowds press forward under umbrellas; rooftops sprout gardens and water towers; neon lights collide with fleeting glances. The city becomes a living organism, each brushstroke and pastel line a pulse in its heartbeat.
Expansive Landscapes
Balancing these urban energies are the panoramic landscapes, such as View Towards the Bay. These large-scale works embrace openness and light, layering plant life, sea, and distant architecture into vistas that feel both timeless and fleeting. They remind us that generosity also resides in expansiveness—in the willingness to hold vastness and intimacy within the same frame.
A Language of Generosity
Krizmanic’s art is firmly rooted in Post-Impressionist color and Expressionist gesture, but it resists categorization. It is a language of empathy, built on offering rather than declaration. “Painting, for me, is an act of generosity,” she notes. “Like a sospeso, each work carries the hope that it will brighten someone’s day, connect them to a memory, or simply remind them of beauty. In sharing these moments, my wish is that the exhibition feels like a gift—something quietly offered to whoever needs it.”
In Caffè Sospeso, the ordinary becomes luminous, the fleeting becomes lasting, and the personal becomes universal. Each painting is a gesture extended into the world—waiting, like a cup of coffee at a café counter, to be received.