Martha Rich: It's Always Today
December 5 – December 28, 2025

OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, December 5 • 6PM–8PM
RSVP here*
*appreciated but not required

View/Collect Artwork HERE

Paradigm Gallery + Studio is pleased to present It’s Always Today, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Philadelphia-based artist Martha Rich. In a feast-for-the-eye display, Rich will unveil over 200 speech bubbles, animals, and objects, which illustrate the humor, enthusiasm, and attitude of the city and its inhabitants.  In response to the current overwhelming landscape, Rich chooses to highlight the positive resilience that continues to show up in her community every day, represented in pithy quotes. Rich’s practice of documenting her favorite overheard quips and comebacks reminds her that people continue to exist even through changing times. This has inspired her to take living one day at a time as a survival method against getting bogged down by life’s obstacles. Her second solo with Paradigm is presented as a reminder to visitors to live in the now, and to cherish the randomness of their surroundings.

It’s Always Today will be on view on the first floor of Paradigm Gallery + Studio from December 5 – 28, 2025. An opening reception will be held on December 5 from 6:00pm to 8:00 pm during Old City District’s First Fridays.

Rich describes her artistic practice as a never-ending process, as she is constantly inspired while hearing new quirky phrases that she writes down as she treks across the city. She commemorates her favorite lines and animals in her signature acrylic on wood cutouts that come alive as they are arranged together. Bit by bit, each of Rich’s spontaneous and vibrant pieces build up to a cosmic display that will span the whole gallery, creating an orchestra of witty and lively characters. This reflects Rich’s immediate community, living next to Philadelphia’s famous Italian Market, known to be a hub for all walks of life. She’s able to experience all of the parades and cultural celebrations that go through the market, constantly connecting her with different perspectives and stories. It fuels her prolific career, driving her to make work that is accessible to all.

Along with the exhibition, Paradigm will be hosting a pop-up shop for the holidays, decked out with small gifts, books, and limited edition prints designed by Rich and other Philadelphia artists. 

 View/Collect Artwork HERE

About Martha Rich
Martha Rich lived the typical, suburban life - until she followed her husband to Los Angeles where, just short of a picket fence and 2.5 children her average American life unraveled. To cope with divorce, fate lead her to a class taught by painters and brothers Rob and Christian Clayton. They persuaded her to quit the pantyhose, corporate world, leave her human resources job at Universal Studios behind and become an artist full-time. She graduated with honors from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and got her MFA in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Her commercial clients include Blue Q, Fringe Studio, Mincing Mockingbird, Chronicle Books, Green Thumb Industries, Penn Gazette, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Penguin UK, McSweeney’s, Portland Mercury, Village Voice, Bon Appetit, San Francisco Chronicle, Henry Holt Publishers, and Country Music TV to name just a few.

Her work is featured in the Beck video “Girl” and a book about her sketchbooks, Sketchbook Expressionism, was published by Murphy Design. In 2019, Chronicle Books published her book, The Furious Notebook, Release Your Rage, Use Your Anger for Good and Chill the Heck Out.

Rich’s artwork has been shown in galleries throughout the U.S. and internationally. She is currently living in her hometown of Philadelphia and teaches classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

About Paradigm Gallery + Studio
Paradigm Gallery + Studio® was established in 2010 by co-founders and curators, Jason Chen and Sara McCorriston. The gallery exhibits meaningful, process-intense contemporary artwork by emerging and mid-career artists from around the world, with a focus on Philadelphia. In 2023, Paradigm moved locations and opened its new 5-story, 7,000 sq. ft. home, The Paradigm Arts Building, in Old City, Philadelphia. Open to the public, the building boasts multiple floors of exhibition space, integrated in-house design and printmaking, a dedicated events floor, and art advisory offices. With this, Chen and McCorriston expanded their vision for the greater Philadelphia arts community. The gallery is at the heart of this vision, anchoring Paradigm’s overall mission of increasing access to the commercial art world, supporting artists and advancing their careers, and collaborating with like-minded partners to build a more equitable, sustainable arts economy for all.

EXHIBITION HOURS
Thursdays • 10 AM – 6 PM
Fridays • 10 AM – 6 PM
Saturdays • 11 AM – 6 PM
Sundays • 11 AM – 5 PM
Mon-Wed by appointment.

View/Collect Artwork HERE

MEDIA CONTACT
For all inquiries, contact info@paradigm-gallery.com

LOCATION
12 N. 3rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

SOCIAL MEDIA
Instagram: @ParadigmGS