Artist Roland de Fries, a 2024–2025 Merit Scholarship recipient at the Art Students League of New York, is currently exhibiting new work in the League’s distinguished Merit Scholarship Award Exhibition at the historic Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery on 57th Street. His painting The Listing (The Birkin Bag) has quickly emerged as one of the exhibition’s defining works, drawing significant attention from visitors, fellow artists, and collectors.
The Art Students League recently spotlighted de Fries in its official newsletter, noting the reception of The Listing (The Birkin Bag) and acknowledging its forthcoming inclusion in CONTEXT Art Miami, December 2–7, 2025 — marking de Fries’ third consecutive year exhibiting at the international fair during Miami Art Week. He will be represented by Tatyana Enkin with ArtLabbé Gallery, at Booth A13.
A PRACTICE AT THE CROSSROADS OF IMAGE, DESIRE, AND LUXURY
An American–German artist of Belgian descent, de Fries brings to painting an exacting visual intelligence shaped by his prior career in graphic design and visual communication. His work explores how luxury objects function as contemporary icons — cultural markers shaped by aspiration, scarcity, and digital image-making.
The Listing (The Birkin Bag) uses the iconic Hermès Birkin Prototype as an anchor for a broader inquiry into value systems and the aesthetics of desire. While unmistakably contemporary, the work belongs to a lineage that includes Ed Ruscha, James Rosenquist, and other artists who transitioned from commercial image-making into refined, concept-driven practices. De Fries’s quiet, analytical approach echoes that tradition while clearly defining a voice that is his own.
INSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITION AND ARTISTIC MOMENTUM
De Fries studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart (BFA, MFA) and at the University of Stuttgart, where he focused on Philosophy and Aesthetics under Max Bense, a central figure in 20th-century information aesthetics. He later held an academic chair in Design Principles and Typography and has taught in Germany and the United States, including at City University of New York, and is currently a studio assistant at the Art Students League of New York.
The League’s Merit Scholarship recognizes artists for both technical mastery and conceptual rigor — placing de Fries among a select cohort (notables have included O’Keefe, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Twombly, among others) whose work demonstrates a meaningful contribution to the contemporary conversation.
“Showing this work at the Art Students League — a place that has shaped so many significant artists — is an honor,” said de Fries. “I’m looking forward to bringing The Listing to CONTEXT Art Miami, where the dialogue around luxury, value, and display takes on a dimension all its own.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO CONTEXT ART MIAMI 2025
At CONTEXT Art Miami 2025, de Fries will present a concise group of paintings centered on luxury objects, systems of circulation, and the coded language of desirability. The Listing (The Birkin Bag) will serve as a focal point in this presentation, bridging the institutional visibility of his Merit Scholarship exhibition with the global audience of Miami Art Week.
CURRENT EXHIBITION
Art Students League Merit Scholarship Award Exhibition
Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery
215 West 57th Street, New York, NY
Through November 23, 2025
UPCOMING
CONTEXT Art Miami 2025
December 2–7, 2025
Represented by Tatyana Enkin with ArtLabbé Gallery
Booth A13
Miami, Florida
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Roland de Fries is an American–German artist of Belgian descent living and working in New York City. Educated at the Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart (BFA, MFA) and the University of Stuttgart in philosophy and aesthetics, he has held an academic chair in Design Principles and Typography and taught in Germany and the U.S., including Studio Monitor Art Students League of New York. His work has been exhibited internationally, with highlights at Villa Hügel / Museum Folkwang, Essen; the International Short Film Festival Munich; Imaging Rural at Brooklyn Bridge Park; Undercroft Gallery, 1085 Fifth Avenue; 1000Museum / Zaha Hadid Building, Miami; MIAF K-Art Seoul (2023); and CONTEXT Art Miami (2023, 2024, 2025). He is a 2024–2025 Merit Scholarship recipient at the Art Students League of New York.
