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About The Artist
Storm Ritter is a New York City based fine artist, ambidextrous painter, garment designer, and business owner of Storm Ritter, Inc. She has cultivated her own style of surrealist fine art, specializing in fine art paintings, murals, custom apparel, and artist merchandise.
Her intent as a painter and human is to visualize the magical worlds of her soul; furthermore, to transfer her nostalgia stylistically onto canvas. Storm's evolving body of work is focused on emotional storytelling through the use of her specific color palette (dictated by music) and organically-created esoteric imagery. Personal enlightenment and ethereal escapism for the artist and the viewer is the mission.
After graduating from NYU, her career launched in 2015 when she opened her first retail storefront, Storm Ritter Studio, featuring original fashion & studio art. Since 2022, Storm has run two Storm Ritter Galleries in Meatpacking located at 807 Washington Street and 38 Little West 12th Street, NYC.
@StormRitter
Art & Business Timeline
2023
Gallery, Fine Art, Studio Production
January to May 2023, Storm continued to operate her brick-and-mortar Storm Ritter Gallery at 807 Washington St., NYC, featuring her 2022 collection of fine art, original fashion, artisan jewelry, & art merchandise. February 2023, she was featured in The Villager in print and online for her impact in the New York City gallery world. The gallery doubled as an active studio for Storm, allowing her to grow her 2023 body of work with paintings on wood, canvas, frames, & mirrors. Storm held five events at the gallery featuring the updated collection, artist talks, philanthropic silent auctions and merchandise drops.
In April 2023, Storm was honored at the NY's Girl Scouts Gala receiving an award for her arts teaching volunteer work from the past three years. In March, Storm collaborated with the NFT company, OrangeHare, releasing an exclusive NFT with featured interview. Storm showed in group gallery shows in Soho and around Meatpacking. With her collaborative residency with Gallery 23 NY, she joined their non-profit team to contribute efforts in creating arts workshops for kids and raising funds for city-beautifying murals.
May to August 2023, Storm opened her second gallery location in Meatpacking NYC with G23NY at 38 Little West 12th Street. Open daily, the gallery doubled as a studio space for clients to view the available collection and in-progress work. Over twenty new pieces were created at the location, and four gallery evening events were held. September 2023, Storm closed her public Meatpacking location to prepare the opening of her private art studio in Greenwich Village in 2024.
2022
Fine Art, Gallery, Mural
January to February 2022, Storm completed a 60-foot commissioned building mural titled, Age Of The Cool People in Dunedin, Florida at Blur Nightclub. The final piece became the foundation for her 2022 fine art collection, also providing design elements for NFTs and merchandise.
From March to August 2022, Storm focused on expanding her collection of studio art, while designing & locally manufacturing artisan jewelry. In turn, Storm continue to expand her collection of limited edition artist prints, small accessible paintings, cater to custom painted apparel orders, and continue her tattoo practice with local clients. With TMJ Arts Collective, Storm participated in various live painting events and group shows in Soho throughout the summer.
September 2022, Storm opened her second solo show, Cirque of The Cool People at 807 Washington St. in Meatpacking, NYC with Gallery23NY. The exhibition included 40+ paintings, art prints, artisan jewelry, custom painted clothing, and printed t-shirts. Her showcased was immediately featured in NY's Up Magazine. After the month solo show run, the space was transformed into 9-month residency, Storm Ritter Gallery running from September 2022 into May of 2023.
2021
Fine Art, Gallery, Murals, Production
January 2021, Storm completed a large indoor mural featuring The Cool People inside of Blur Nightclub in Dunedin, Florida. From February onward, Storm worked from her West Village home studio painting her 2021 collection.
Spring in Greenwich Village, Storm showed in multiple group gallery shows with local curators TMJ Arts Collective and NY Arts Empire, including live painting days outsides on Greene Street with Soho Art Walks. Storm continued to work from her home studio and began tattooing clients with her signature, The Cool People. Summer, Storm focused heavily on fine art in studio, preparing for her solo show in the Fall.
In October '21, Storm opened her fine art exhibition, Realm of The Cool People with Gallery 23 NY at 34 Little West 12th Street, NYC. The show successfully ran into December 2021 and multiple gallery evening events were held, including a workshop with NYC Girls Scouts.
November 2021, she launched her NFT career working with NYC's Pollinate and participated in NYC's Crypto Art Fair in Times Square, landing a successful feature in Forbes. In December, Storm was featured at Miami Art Week with three NFTs, represented by Pollinate.
December 2021, Storm established a collaboration with the local Lower East Side band, Bad Vacation for a philanthropic apparel drop raising funds for Road Recovery. Catering to apparel commissions for individual clients and Netflix shows, Storm focused on garment painting and website growth at the home studio.
2020
Home Studio, E-Commerce, Fine Art
At the start of 2020, Storm was working from her home studio with intents of opening a new retail storefront in the Lower East Side in spring. But, due to the pandemic, she transformed her home studio in her her main hub of commerce with private shopping and styling services until the peak of COVID in March.
March - August 2020, Storm transitioned her business to an online website, focusing immediately on bulk face mask production, donations/sales, and a fundraising Heroes Rock t-shirt. Storm shipped 2,000+ masks made of her original textiles to essential workers & clients from her home studio. Storm didactically built this website and applied her retail skills online to cater to the times. Once the website was established and sales were moving with masks, apparel, and artwork, Storm began evolving her fine art with a higher level of technique and intent separate from wholesale fashion.
Fall of 2020, Storm heavily focused on evolving her fine art career, working from her home studio in the West Village daily on what would become "Realm of The Cool People." Stylistically, this time was crucial for thematic spiritual development, drawing from her education in tarot cards and palmistry.
Winter, Storm periodically taught art classes for a local NYC Girl Scouts troop via Zoom until end of the year. The lessons focused on Women's Art History and creative thinking, including workshops painting on garments.
2015 - 2019
Retail Store, Art Studio, Fashion Design
2015, Storm truly aligned with the heartbeat of the Village and launched her first business, Graey Corporation, Inc with a silent business partner. As a new business owner in New York City, Storm opened a two-story, brick-and-mortar storefront, Storm Ritter Studio, at 14 West 8th Street in Summer 2015. Originally the store was named, Graey Studio, but was quickly re-named to Storm Ritter Studio as it was transparent the artist branding was stronger. Once the store was leased, Storm painted it in her psychedelic surrealist style, ceiling to floor. As the environment was established, she began building a small staff of creatives, sale associates, and college interns. The shop sold fashion and art already created by Storm. She hired a full time seamstress to create garments with her patterns and original digitally printed textiles in the upstairs studio. Storm continued to create canvas, design textiles, paint vintage garments, and manufacture merchandise based on her paintings. Custom garments were created in house while retail sales operated downstairs.
2016, Storm graduated from NYU with honors and continue to thrive in her business. Embodying the quintessential downtown vibe, soon every garment and product was handmade in house. Her staff created an old school Village haven with vinyls exclusively soundtracking the establishment and positive, upbeat energy dominating the day-to-day atmosphere. Storm continued to grow the murals and create extravagant environments for the multitude of parties and events featuring sales, live music, drag shows, cocktails, and themed nights.
2017, With positive response of her street style, Storm began providing wardrobe for Mean Girls on Broadway and launched an extended relationship into 2019 for costuming for the National Tour. Styling pulls were a commonplace, catering to Netflix shows, local theater stage wear, and celebrities (Miley Cyrus, Usher, Cheap Trick, etc.) Working with Electric Lady Studios, Storm launched the Jimi Hendrix Way campaign, creating a unifying buzz in the community with a feature in New York Times. The store was also featured in NY One News, The Villager, and other local publications, drawing traffic to the downtown Village shop.
2018, Storm Ritter Studio was thriving and Storm was highly active with the Greenwich Village Alliance, creating collaborations with other businesses, & contributing to local events with live community painting and local pop-ups. Summer, Storm opened a summer solo show of paintings and garments –– Storm Ritter Experience –– at 9 West 8th Street. In October of 2018, the lease for Storm Ritter Studio ended, and Storm planned to re-locate to the Lower East Side in 2019.
2019, Storm's business, Graey Corporation, Inc. officially transitioned into her second corporation, Storm Ritter, Inc.. She then switched gears at her private art studio in the West Village with online sales until her next location was leased. As 2019 came to an end, she planned to move to Orchard Street, NYC, but as the pandemic approached, production was re-routed to her home studio temporarily.
2011 - 2015
Art Process, Production, Education
2011 to 2012, Storm graduated high school with an International Baccalaureate Diploma, a high school diploma, and exceptional experience as a scenic designer/painter. She began contributing to large-scale productions at 15 years old, assisted in the scenic design shop, and eventually acted as head student designer throughout her four years. After she co-directed and designed/built the set & working puppets for Little Shop Of Horrors, her passion for creative production and painting was apparent. The puppets were sold to professional theatre company once her production closed, and Storm became known for her artistry and work ethic. Outside of high school, Storm freelanced her skills as a set and prop designer at local community theaters. She then started her college journey as a Fine Art major at Ringling College of the Arts.
2013, After one semester at Ringling College of the Arts, Storm transferred to Wake Forest University with a scenic design scholarship. She was in search of an immersive education where she could grow a career while in school. Her second year of college started with a move to NYC and another transfer into NYU School for Professional Studies studying anthropology and art history while working as a freelance assistant at a event production company in midtown.
2014, She internally transferred into NYU Tisch School for The Arts for theatrical set design & costume while working as a editorial fashion stylist assistant (Vogue, Marie Claire.) She then landed a job in the wardrobe department at Saturday Night Live for the 40th season at NBC. That year, she befriended the iconic psychic to the stars, Frank Andrews. He mentored her in the arts of tarot and palmistry, gifting Storm an incomparable spiritual education that underpins her artistry. During this time, Storm dreamt of starting her own business. Now living in the Village, Storm worked at her home studio developing her art style and ambidextrous drawing & painting technique daily. In late 2014, she birthed her signature visual, The Cool People with the two-handed, conscious and subconscious technique of creation. From then on, her vision was quite clear.
2015, Storm's focus on business and creative production was at a high. She transferred into NYU Gallatin for Individualized Study to pursue a serious colloquium thesis based on her didactic experience in college with arts production, independent business, and enlightenment philosophy. In between classes, she rarely left her home studio. From 2014-2015, Storm passionately produced 70+ paintings and illustrations, designed textiles and apparel, developed branding, and established plans to launch her own art and fashion company before graduation in spring 2016.
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