At Art Megastar’s Latest New York Exhibition, Reality Drifts Into the Surreal

On Tuesday, May 12th, MADE Hotel in New York City’s NoMad district hosted the latest installment of Art Megastar: Crystal Clear, NYC—a group exhibition and curatorial platform presented by collector and curator David Roff.

De Jesús Negrón, Larissa. Relaxed after seeing the ocean. 20 x 16 inches, Oil and acrylic on canvas. 2026

Bringing together twelve international emerging contemporary artists, the show foregrounded a distinctly painter-led conversation, with works that moved between saturated color, psychological abstraction, and dreamlike distortion.

Art Megastar began as an extension of his personal collecting practice and studio-driven approach to discovery. “I just started trying to uplift artists that I really believe in their work,” he said. “I have to believe in an artist’s work to be able to showcase them.” What followed were studio visits, informal artist interviews shared via social media, and a steadily growing network shaped less by institutional gatekeeping than by word-of-mouth within creative circles. “I think community is so important. That’s the heart of what I’ve done—building a community of good people that I really like to hang out with and spend time with,” he added. Now two years in, Art Megastar has staged presentations across New York, Los Angeles, and will soon expand to San Francisco.

Wheeless, Avery. surface tension, 48 x 36 inches. Oil on canvas, 2026

Rather than a conventional group show format, Crystal Clear, NYC reads as a curated constellation of painterly practices. Works are installed throughout the space in conversational proximity, allowing each artist’s visual language to echo and diverge across the room.

Toh Djojo, Aryo. Silent Signal. 10 x 8 inches, Acrylic on canvas. 2026

Among them was painter Dylan Rose Rheingold, whose work has garnered a growing following in New York for its nuanced exploration of girlhood and womanhood. “My work is inspired by my personal experiences as an individual, navigating the transitional space between girl and woman, and the experiences of those around me,” she said, describing scenes that oscillate between the everyday and the emotionally charged. “Mostly mundane, daily life feelings—some nostalgic, some perplexed and some very vulnerable.”

Rheingold, Dylan Rose. ​​The Disappearing Act. 2026. Oil, acrylic, pastel on canvas, 36 x 48 in.

Across her paintings, dream logic often slips into lived experience. “I’m deeply inspired by my subconscious. Dream logic,” she said. “Fantasy and the experience of trying to decipher the in-between—memory, dream, and the cloud-like flashback or visions in my head.”

Nearby, the work of Megan Gabrielle Harris, a Sacramento native who relocated to New York initially to pursue modeling before turning fully to painting, centered similarly on intimate portraiture and lived observation. “I really didn’t see the women in my immediate community really prioritize themselves, and so I felt that that’s what I wanted to see more of in the world,” she said.

Harris, Megan Gabrielle. Vermentino. 2026. Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 in.

Harris first encountered Art Megastar through Roff’s Instagram documentation of artists in their studios. “These really intimate, natural, raw portraits of artists in their spaces surrounded by their work,” she said. “I just loved the way that he captured these artists.”

As Art Megastar continues to evolve, Roff hopes to expand its reach to additional cities and eventually establish a permanent gallery space. For now, the focus remains firmly on artists and the ecosystem around them. “I’m very focused on artists that I really believe in,” he said. “That’s the core of what I do.”

Featuring Aaron Johnson, Megan Gabrielle Harris, Hiejin Yoo, Avery Wheless, Mark Yang, Dylan Rose Rheingold, Sally Kindberg, Krista Louise Smith, Elliot Purse, Aryo Toh Djojo, Larissa De Jesús Negrón, and Scout Zabinski, Crystal Clear presents a dynamic, dream-infused body of paintings that linger between presence and imagination—on view through August 19, 2026. Learn more on Art Megastar’s website and Instagram.