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Vertical Gallery is very proud to announce the Vertical Collectors Club, a limited-edition print series featuring exclusive seasonal-themed releases from the gallery’s favorite artists.

Vertical Collectors Club launches with the Feb. 2 release of Jerome Tiunayan’s “Better Half,” timed especially for Valentine’s Day gift-giving. “Better Half,” which stars Tiunayan’s semi-autobiographical signature character and the boy’s canine comrade (a stand-in for the Chicago-based artist’s beloved mini goldendoodle Mochi), is signed and numbered in an edition of just 25 copies, and sized at 16 by 20 inches — perfect for standard frames.

Vertical Collectors Club offers art enthusiasts worldwide the opportunity to acquire strictly-limited, high-quality print editions from the most sought-after talents in the urban-contemporary realm. 

“We've done a lot of prints in conjunction with gallery exhibitions and events, but Vertical Collectors Club marks the first time we’ve commissioned original work expressly to release a print edition,” Hull says. “The other special thing is that some lucky person will be able to purchase Jerome’s original painting of the ‘Better Half’ print image.”

Vertical Gallery will officially release “Better Half” through its website on Monday, Feb. 2 at 10:00am ET/7:00 PT, but collectors can pre-order their copy of the print now and receive free shipping if purchased before Jan. 31.

Moving forward, Vertical Collectors Club will drop a limited-edition print every six to eight weeks, based on a brand-new work by a different artist. The next release in the series, coming this spring, features longtime Vertical favorite Laura Catherwood.

“Better Half” sets a high standard for Vertical Collectors Club efforts to follow. A refreshing pause from the comic misadventures captured in Tiunayan’s previous works, the sweet, simple “Better Half” depicts the boy offering the dog half of his sandwich — a show of sacrifice, commitment and devotion. 

“I don't look at them as individual paintings. It’s a whole narrative, and I'm just showing you little pieces of it,” Tiunayan says. “For ‘Better Half,’ I wanted to paint something where they're resting, as opposed to something travel-oriented. My wife Valerie taught me that feeding somebody, or having somebody feed you, is a gesture that can only be from love.”

Tiunayan’s fierce affection for five-year-old Mochi made him the perfect choice for a Valentine’s Day-inspired piece, Hull says.

“I wanted to offer collectors something that fit the holiday, but also something that would hang on the wall year round,” he explains. “Valentine’s Day isn’t only about romantic love — it’s also about friendship and appreciation. I knew Jerome would understand the feeling I was looking for, and he captured it perfectly.”

For additional information on Vertical Collectors Club, contact info@verticalgallery.com.

Shop artwork from Flog here.

Flog sees people for who they really are. The French painter — one of 13 artists exhibiting with Vertical Gallery at Aqua Art Miami 2025 — exposes the emotions and experiences below the surface, bypassing our exterior selves to capture the true essence of our beings.

Flog’s deft, dazzling blend of aerosol spray, acrylics and oils gained international attention following the 2020 introduction of his signature Human of Glass character, within whose transparent body the colors and complexities of life swirl and splash. Vertical Gallery first exhibited Flog’s work on American shores in 2022, and presented the artist’s debut U.S. solo showcase, the sold-out ‘Rewind,’ at SCOPE Miami Beach 2023. We next reunited in May 2025 for Flog’s first New York City solo show, ‘Hand in Hand.’ 

What does Flog have in store this time around? Find out in the latest installment of our Artist Spotlight series. 

Vertical Gallery: What adventures await your Human of Glass character at Aqua Art Miami 2025?

Flog: For this year’s edition of Aqua Miami, I wanted to revisit a series I had set aside for quite some time. This new body of work revolves around the symbolism of overcoming adversity, using a metal fence as the central obstacle my character must cross — one way or another. What awaits on the other side is left entirely to the viewer’s imagination.

Along with the introduction of the fence motif, I’ve also been exploring new variations in the character’s clothing. It’s something I’ve been experimenting with lately because it allows me to bring in new accents of color and create stronger visual contrasts.

Which colors are you embracing this time around, and what feelings and thoughts do you hope to evoke?

In this series, I’m not focusing on a specific palette in the traditional sense. The emphasis is more on symbolism than on color itself. That being said, the sky is very present as a metaphor for hope and dreams — so naturally, shades of blue appear throughout the paintings.

After exhibiting with Vertical Gallery in New York City, you headlined a solo show in London. How did those two exhibitions differ, and how did they feed into the work you have planned for Miami?

The London show, much like the Miami presentation, centered on the character interacting with a recurring symbolic element to tell new stories. The NYC exhibition, on the other hand, explored oversized objects connected to the character’s identity. But the biggest evolution — both in London and now in Miami — is the introduction of a female Human of Glass figure, which opens up new narrative possibilities.

Why did you choose to introduce a female figure?

The Human of Glass was always meant to be genderless, but over time I realized that many viewers subconsciously perceived it as masculine. Introducing a second figure felt like the right step — one that will allow me to tell new stories moving forward. And if this helps women or young girls connect more personally with the character, then it’s absolutely worth expanding its universe.

How else has your relationship with the Human of Glass evolved over the years?

My relationship with the character remains fundamentally the same as in the beginning. But with each passing year, I feel more confident pushing the symbolism further, creating bolder narratives, richer details and more vibrant compositions.

What do you hope the Miami audience takes away from experiencing this collection of work?

I chose a universal theme, and I hope viewers will read it in a positive way — as a reminder that nothing should hold us back when we have a dream to pursue.

Shop artwork from Flog here.

Shop artwork from Laura Catherwood here.

It’s been less than three months since Laura Catherwood co-headlined the Vertical Gallery group show ‘The Scenic Route’ opposite Joseph Renda Jr. and Jerome Tiunayan. But in that time, the painter and illustrator published her first book, the career retrospective ‘Gestures from the Field,’ and relocated from her native Chicago to bucolic Rochester, N.Y. Last but not least, she’s one of 13 artists exhibiting with Vertical at Aqua Art Miami 2025. 

Laura updates us on her new life and previews her newest work in the latest installment of our Artist Spotlight series. 

Vertical Gallery: Tell us about the work you’re showing at Aqua Art Miami 2025. 

Laura Catherwood: It’s essentially a direct follow-up to my ‘Scenic Route’ body of work. There are eight pieces: two 20-inch by 30-inch oil paintings, and six 11-inch by 14-inch drafting film drawings. ‘The Scenic Route’ also combined larger oil paintings and drafting film drawings, but that collection was about setting out on an adventure; it was the end of part one. This is the start of part two. The animals are a little deeper in, and it’s like “How do we find our way around here?”

All the drawings are titled “They're Always With You,” and each one has its own [parenthetical] title, which comes from whatever activity is happening in the drawings. All the pieces feature a main animal, and then in the background, there are blue animals alongside them. I wanted those blue animals to feel kind of ghostly and separate physically, so I added another sheet of drafting film. Instead of three layers [of drafting film], there are now five, because each sheet adds a front and a back, which gives each piece so much more depth. 

The inspiration behind “They're Always With You” is our Chicago community. My husband and I extracted ourselves from that community to come to Rochester, but all those people are still with us. We're still supporting what they're doing, and their efforts still affect us. There’s togetherness despite the distance. The title also ties back to grief, the ongoing theme of my work. People you care about may be physically gone, but they're always there with you. 

Are the creatures in these new paintings and drawings native to upstate New York?

Yes. The animals are also native to the Midwest, which connects this body of work to ‘The Scenic Route’ — the fox is a key character in both. But there are different birds and plants involved. One of the large paintings in the last show was a great blue heron, and instead of just using that bird again, I chose to use the great white egret, which is also found in Florida, so I thought the Aqua people would like it, too.

What are your initial impressions of your new environment?

It's an autumn wonderland. The foliage has just been insane. We live in a historic district, and sometimes I think I might be in a coma, because this is exactly the neighborhood environment that my brain would dream up for me. It's so beautiful. Everyone is so nice.

A big move like this drudges up a lot of big feelings, especially after living someplace for so long. It makes you intensely aware of what's most important in life. This moment is also very special because it's almost like the quarantine times, where no one's expecting me to be anywhere at any given moment. I have complete freedom over how I spend each day. It's like entering a new zone in a video game.

It’s difficult being away from the Chicago art community, though. With Instagram, I can still see what everyone's up to, but the thing with art is that it's always more amazing in person. It stings to miss out on [Chicago gallery] openings, but that’s one reason why I’m so grateful to go to Aqua: I’ll get to see some of my friends’ work there. And there are new people to get to know here in Rochester. I already found an artist I love.

Will viewers recognize Rochester’s impact on the work you’re exhibiting in Miami?

I don't think it’s a stark difference. It's still very much me and what I do. I'm still the same person — I’m just moving forward.

Shop artwork from Laura Catherwood here.

Pop-surrealist polymath Adam Augustyn conjures candy-colored dreamscapes inspired by animation, mythology, music, horror movies and the obsessions of his three daughters. 

The Chicago-based painter — one of 13 artists exhibiting with Vertical Gallery at Aqua Art Miami 2025 — first appeared on our walls as part of 2021’s ‘Water the Plants!’ A second Vertical group show, ‘Atomic Number 13,’ preceded Adam’s debut solo showcase, 2022’s ‘The Sky Is Falling,’ a collection grappling with the proliferation and normalization of fringe conspiracy theories. He returned to Vertical two years later for ‘Hero’s Journey,’ a deeply personal celebration of adventure and discovery. Discover what’s next for Adam in the latest installment of our Artist Spotlight series. 

Vertical Gallery: What do you have in store for Aqua Art Miami?

Adam Augustyn: This collection is about heartbreak, isolation, adaptation and reconnection — how I resist change, and my desire to freeze time and stand still. As my kids get older, I look for ways to stay connected to them but also hold on to each moment. I have been married to my wife for 25 years, and as our relationship evolves, there is resistance and fear to that, but also, I look forward to it. I tried to capture this push and pull throughout the collection.

I drew inspiration from other artists who explore similar themes, and included nods to their work. There’s a painting reminiscent of the Frida Kahlo piece “The Wounded Deer,” and another is inspired by Winslow Homer’s “Fox Hunt.” These influenced pieces visually and thematically, and, in some cases, rebelled against my interpretation of what was intended. Each painting includes an animal or insect based on how their symbolism reinforces the story.

I associate your work with human figures. Where does the animal motif come from?

There was a piece in my previous show with Vertical that [gallery owner Patrick Hull] and others responded to — a heron with a mask and graffiti painted on it. I was excited about that as a jumping-off point. As I sketched, nothing was working. I started reverting to my comfort zone and worked on portraits, but they were not capturing what was in my head. After trying a variety of subjects, I circled back and thought “You know what the answer is? Animals.” Which is exactly where we started. 

A lot of research went into this collection. I love to hide meaning in little details. I include symbols from religions, mythology, fables, old stories, old paintings, references to Chicago. What I put in paintings ebbs and flows through the whole series. Elements of the first painting sneak into the second, and so on. It helps me feel like the collection is more cohesive. 

Sometimes, I worry that the concept can get a little muddy. I’m not sure if what I am trying to say is clear or if I strayed too far away from the original intention. I feel like I’ve gone off too far — like “Oh, I put too much stuff in.” But when I share the work, I usually end up where I wanted to go. I think the distance from the painting helps me appreciate it more: I finish a piece, hate it, and then, three paintings later, it’s my favorite one.

Is this love-hate relationship with the work unique to you, or have you found your peers feel the same way? 

I think it’s common, but I find that, especially for me, it’s about being too close to a painting. Once it’s done, I don’t want to look at it for a bit, because I will nitpick details and second guess. When I get some distance from it, those things tend to stand out as the parts that make it feel unique, or a little bit more fun. 

Your work typically features bright, pastel colors — a palette that’s very much aligned with Miami Beach’s Tropical Deco aesthetic. What colors can we expect from this newest collection?

I don’t know if it’s as pastel, but they are saturated with color.

When I started, I wanted a unified background, so I painted all the backgrounds in kind of a cool blue-green. It was the first thing I threw out the window. It just didn’t work for me. I felt a little constrained by it. Each individual piece needed its own lighting and its own color to really set the mood and tell its story.

What do you hope the Miami audience takes away from this work?

I hope they can see the struggle in each piece and relate to that. Trying to adapt while also resisting change. Finding hope while struggling.

I love talking to people and finding out what a piece means to them. I believe my art is for the viewer as much as for me. I know what I am trying to say, but what attracts the audience to the piece is just as important. If it’s different from what I intended, I think that is great.

Vertical Gallery will feature eight 9-by-12-inch acrylic paintings on aluminum panels from Adam Augustyn (@adammaugustyn) at Aqua Art Miami, which runs December 3-7. Email sales@verticalgallery.com for the collector preview.  

Jerome Tiunayan’s spirited, narrative-driven paintings bring to life the semi-autobiographical misadventures of his signature character and the boy’s faithful canine sidekick — a Hero’s Journey for our postmodern age. 

The Brooklyn-born, Chicago-based painter, one of 13 artists exhibiting with Vertical Gallery at Aqua Art Miami 2025 (December 3-7), first appeared in our space as part of 2024’s Summer Group Show, and resurfaced at year’s end for our annual Holiday Group Show. Jerome returned this spring for the gallery’s 12-Year Anniversary Show, and in September, he co-headlined ‘The Scenic Route’ opposite Joseph Renda Jr. and Laura Catherwood. Discover what’s next for Jerome in the latest installment of our Artist Spotlight series. 

Vertical Gallery: Tell us about the work you’re exhibiting at Aqua Art Miami 2025.

Jerome Tiunayan: After ‘The Scenic Route,’ I wanted to do something more lighthearted — something where I could experiment, and let loose a little bit. This is my first time showing in Miami, and I wanted to capture the audience’s attention. 

The overall title I’m working with is ‘Main Character Syndrome.’ I’m an only child, and each of these six paintings [depicts] a different scenario that I daydreamed about as a kid to pass the time and have fun — for example, imagining myself as a samurai. 

I made a conscious effort to strip away the environments, because I didn’t want the character doing stuff in the real world. I wanted to see how compelling I could make the work when he’s not doing anything other than sleeping, which is why in one piece he’s drooling, and in another he looks kind of like a cherub. It's all about restraint, and how far I can go with that restraint.

How has growing up an only child impacted your body of work as a whole?

It is everything. I say that not trying to be dramatic about it — I tacked on the title ‘Main Character Syndrome’ because I feel you can’t take yourself too seriously. But I like to think that I was preparing my whole life to be able to do this work, and being an only child has definitely helped that. I have very vivid memories of spending most of the day alone on the floor with my drawing utensils and paper, just locked in. What I do now is a lot more elegant and cleaned up, but it’s the same shit, really. 

Most of my work is autobiographical to a degree, especially the work that I did prior to the paintings I’ve shown at Vertical — the more macabre, black and white shit. I used myself as the model for all of it, not only because it was easier to not have to scour the internet for references, but because I knew what I wanted it to look like, so I could just pose however I wanted it to be.

I like making work that has me in it, because I know what went into it, what it means to me and what I'm trying to say. Being an only child lends itself perfectly to that, because I've had my whole life to just ruminate and sit in my own thoughts and figure things out. It makes approaching the work — this type of work, at least — that much easier. 

Why did you leave behind the “more macabre, black and white shit” in the first place, and why did you decide to incorporate these elements back into your practice?

I moved away from it because it didn't feel authentic to the life that I was living anymore. I started working in that way when I was in college, because I thought it would be fun to confine myself to only working in pen, which translated into ideas in line with this dark, monochromatic sort of look. Eventually I got to a place where it felt less like what I wanted to do and more like what I thought people expected from me, which is a recipe for a slow death. 

At that time, I was super afraid of painting backgrounds. It was always too hard, so I just avoided it. But that got boring after a while, so I decided “I'm just gonna do all backgrounds now. Let's see what happens.” That’s when I started introducing color, to make it as lively and vibrant and as accurate to the real world as possible.

[The black and white imagery] found its way back because it worked perfectly with how vibrant I wanted the Miami pieces to be. I thought “Okay, I can go as crazy as I want with black and white. It won't be visually overwhelming because it's just grayscale, and it'll contrast nicely with the flat colors.” The black and white also allowed me to pull in all the references from old movies. It all just put itself together. 

Is your character maturing in tandem with the maturation of your work? Or is he more in line with a character like Charlie Brown, who’s stuck forever at eight years old?

I don't like the idea of him getting older as I get older. I don't even have a specific age for him. I just like the idea of me figuring out better, different ways of communicating the things I think and the ideas I have as I get older. I want to retain the innocence of a young kid and his dog, you know? I think he’d lose a little bit of that if I was to portray him as a teen. 

How do you hope the Miami audience responds to this body of work?

I hope it resonates with what they daydream about. I also hope It's evident that I put a lot of care into it, and a lot of love and attention into it. 

Really, though, I hope they just feel something, even if they hate it. Obviously, who doesn't want people to love their stuff, or at least like it? But it can be just as useful and just as beneficial for a creator to have somebody not like your stuff, because that says just as much. You can learn a lot. The worst thing is apathy. That’s a dead end.

Don’t miss the opportunity to add work by Jerome Tiunayan (@gohomejerome) to your collection! Email sales@verticalgallery.com to receive our Aqua Art Miami 2025 collector preview.