Installation view, Ted Gahl and Tatiana Berg, Nudashank, Baltimore

If Paddy Johnson calls you a star, you must be doing something right, and lately it seems like Nudashank can’t miss. Most recently it was Out of Practice, a group show artist-run gallery curated at the temporary Art Blog Art Blog exhibition space in Chelsea, which gathered a bevy of exciting young abstract painters including NAP blog favorites Cordy Ryman, Katie Bell, and Maria Walker. Before that, it was their timely show The Shape of Things to Come that caught our attention.

Busy as they are, Nudashank co-founders Seth Adelsberger (Editions #45, #57, #75) and Alex Ebstein opened another group show at their Baltimore gallery over the weekend, Street Level, but not before I got them on record with ten questions. Their answers after the jump.  —Matthew Smith, DC Contributor

Alex Ebstein and Seth Adelsberger

How long has Nudashank been around?
We opened in March 2009 with Wise Guise, but began our planning, space renovation, and web presence before that in December of 2008.  Since then, we have produced over 25 exhibitions including outside curatorial projects, exchange, and satellite shows.

Favorite/least favorite part of running an exhibition space:
Our favorite part is contacting artists for the first time and then doing studio visits to select work for shows. In many cases, this is the first time we’ve seen the artist’s work in its physical form. Our least favorite part is making the trip to places like New York to return work. It works out though because we often do studio visits with new artists while returning work.

How often do you visit artists’ studios and where abouts?
We usually average about 2- 4 studio visits per month. These are mainly in Brooklyn and Baltimore, but we’ve visited artists working in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Richmond. Really anywhere within our geographical reach

Installation views, Out of Practice, curated by Nudashank for Art Blog Art Blog, New York

Name an artist that you’ve exhibited whose career has just taken off.
Nick Van Woert. He is currently preparing for three shows in Europe this fall through Grimm Fine Art in Amsterdam and Yvon Lambert in Paris. We’ve shown his work in two different group shows. He’s a great guy to work with and continues to amaze us with each new body of work.

If you could only host one more show at Nudashank, and it had to be a solo show, who would it be?
That would either have to be Matt Connors or Andrew Guenther.

Favorite/least favorite part of being an artist in Baltimore:
Favorite is the insanely affordable studio space, which translates to more time and freedom to make things happen. Also, being the big fish in a small pond and the chance to make an impact on a large- and quickly-emerging artist community.

Installation view, Michael Dotson: CURVES, Nudashank, Baltimore

A painting/painter that has stuck with you:
Seth: That’s tough. Garth Weiser and Michael Williams are making great work right now.
Alex: Rebecca Morris and Richard Aldrich

Artists working in non-painterly media that you think about a lot:
Richard Tuttle. His influence on artists working today, including ourselves, is huge.

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing right now?
Seth: Something hands on. Construction, carpentry or the like.
Alex: Probably publication or interior design, I enjoy layout both flat and in space.

What’s next for you guys?
Our August show is called Glass House and features work that involves plants, greenhouses, fungi, and transparency. The artists in that show are Paul Wackers, Heidi Norton, Todd Knopke, Caitlin Cunningham, and Emily Nachison. In the fall, we are doing a massive group show of works on paper appropriately titled “Paper Chasers.” It will include work by Andrew Guenther, Brion Nuda Rosch, Ted Gahl, Matthew Craven, and Benjamin Edmiston, among many others. 2012 kicks off with a solo show by local prolific powerhouse Jordan Bernier. There are also some exchange projects we have in the works with spaces in Chicago and New York.

Matthew Smith is an artist and writer in Washington, DC and a frequent contributor to DCist.