Romance

About the Gallery
Romance is a contemporary art gallery presenting emerging and contemporary artists from across the U.S. and internationally, alongside underrecognized figures and cross-generational art historical narratives. Founded in 2023 in the basement of a Pittsburgh apartment by writer Margaret Kross, the gallery operates through an experimental and intimate ethos that shapes its exhibitions and critical frameworks. Romance is a member of the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA).

About the Presentation
april april and Romance will present work by Aaronel deRoy Gruber in a solo presentation at Independent. Alongside diverse mediums, deRoy Gruber (1918–2011) gained recognition for her polychromatic, geometric sculptures in transparent vacuum-formed acrylic. The technique, which softened the characteristically hard-edged material, allowed her to produce nested layers of pristine machined surfaces, sometimes in a kinetic format or otherwise evoking a sense of potential velocity. The resulting forms spellcast and initiate inquiry into forces of movement—physical, cultural, cosmic—that shape the spectacle and speed of contemporary life.

deRoy Gruber remained in Pittsburgh for the duration of her life and career, and working with the region’s industrial suppliers and specialty fabricators was key to the development of her practice. A student of design, art and costume, deRoy Gruber graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1940 and exhibited at galleries including the historic Bertha Schaefer, New York and Juana Mordó, Madrid. This is the first major presentation of her work in New York in a decade. The presentation is conceived in collaboration with the Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation and Director, Brittany Reilly.