Philip Martin Gallery is pleased to present, "Painted Drawings," an exhibition of new paintings-on-paper by Berlin-based artist Katy Cowan. Cowan’s work was recently the subject of, “Lines of Thought: Gestural Abstraction” at Berkeley Museum of Art (Berkeley, CA), alongside pieces by Joan Mitchell, Hans Hoffman, Rashid Johnson and others.
Katy Cowan notes that, "the wide-open, unaffected, unsupervised space of a page" is where her, "ideas converge." In Cowan's works, deeply considered visual illusions open up, layers upon layers of imitations scrambling frantically until neither artist nor viewer can distinguish on the page between the 'real' and the 'drawn.'
Describing the origins of her works, Cowan writes, "These compositions begin with figurative gesture drawings. The figures sketched are statues or monuments found in the parks in Berlin, the legibility of which is then lost under layers of material and marks that I apply. An arm may appear, a curve of the face is blocked out in painter’s tape, a knee is defined with graphite shading...Image-making, whether as an artist or simply in the goings-on of daily life, is an unending process of mediation/meditation. To see a sculptural form, to feel its texture, to know its curves, to walk past it, to describe it to a friend, to remember it, last spring near the cherry blossoms, to recall it in the studio, to lay down those marks, to grab some tools to help with the studio processes, to get entranced by some falling tape, to go back to the form and realize it is now hidden, to pull that image back out, to recognize your hand in creating this illusion, to sketch it out again, to tape it up, to mask it off, to figure out when to stop.”
Cowan's technicolor 1980's palette is matched in energy by her various methods of applying paint to the surface of the paper. She shifts between confident untethered lines, and layers of soft washes of color. These movements echo that of a dancer, choreographed to an extent but ultimately improvisational and unpredictable in nature.
Katy Cowan (b. 1982, Lake Geneva, WI) received her BFA from University of Puget Sound (Puget Sound, WA) in 2004; and her MFA from Otis College of Art and Design (Los Angeles, CA) in 2014. Recent and upcoming solo and group exhibitions include "Painted Drawings" at Philip Martin Gallery. (Los Angeles, CA)’ Green Gallery (Milwaukee, WI); Miles McEnery Gallery (New York, NY); Haverkampf Leistenschneider (Berlin, Germany); and Meyer Riegger (Berlin Germany). Additional museum and gallery exhibitions include “Lines of Thought: Gestural Abstraction,” Berkeley Museum of Art and Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley, CA); “Selections from the Permanent Collection,” Milwaukee Art Museum (Milwaukee, WI); “From the Collection of Anonymous,” North Dakota Museum of Art (Grand Fork, ND); and “as the sun chases the unfurling fray,” Philip Martin Gallery (Los Angeles, CA). Cowan’s work has been the subject of solo and group institutional exhibitions at Otis College of Art and Design (Los Angeles, CA); University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA); Lynden Sculpture Garden (Milwaukee, WI); Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (Madison, WI); Synchrotron Radiation Center (Stoughton, WI); Poor Farm (Manawa, WI). She has had solo gallery exhibitions at The Green Gallery (Milwaukee, WI); Document (Chicago, IL); Kate Werble Gallery (New York, NY); and Fourteen30 Contemporary (Portland, OR). Cowan’s work is in public and private collections such as Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA); (Milwaukee Museum of Art (Milwaukee, WI); Minneapolis Museum of Art (Minneapolis, MN); North Dakota Museum of Art (Grand Fork, ND); Lynden Sculpture Garden (Milwaukee, WI); Art in Embassies (Maputo, Mozambique); and Northwestern Mutual Insurance (Milwaukee, WI). Her work has been reviewed in Artforum, Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Wallpaper*, Contemporary Art Review LA, Artnet, and other publications. Cowan lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Katy Cowan's exhibition, "Painted Drawings,” is online October 16 - 30, 2024. Works can be viewed at the gallery by appointment.
Philip Martin Gallery is open Wednesday-Saturday 11-5 and Tuesdays by appointment. The gallery is located at 3342 Verdugo Road, Los Angeles CA 90065. For additional images and information please call 323-507-2037 or email info@philipmartingallery.com.
Katy Cowan notes that, "the wide-open, unaffected, unsupervised space of a page" is where her, "ideas converge." In Cowan's works, deeply considered visual illusions open up, layers upon layers of imitations scrambling frantically until neither artist nor viewer can distinguish on the page between the 'real' and the 'drawn.'
Describing the origins of her works, Cowan writes, "These compositions begin with figurative gesture drawings. The figures sketched are statues or monuments found in the parks in Berlin, the legibility of which is then lost under layers of material and marks that I apply. An arm may appear, a curve of the face is blocked out in painter’s tape, a knee is defined with graphite shading...Image-making, whether as an artist or simply in the goings-on of daily life, is an unending process of mediation/meditation. To see a sculptural form, to feel its texture, to know its curves, to walk past it, to describe it to a friend, to remember it, last spring near the cherry blossoms, to recall it in the studio, to lay down those marks, to grab some tools to help with the studio processes, to get entranced by some falling tape, to go back to the form and realize it is now hidden, to pull that image back out, to recognize your hand in creating this illusion, to sketch it out again, to tape it up, to mask it off, to figure out when to stop.”
Cowan's technicolor 1980's palette is matched in energy by her various methods of applying paint to the surface of the paper. She shifts between confident untethered lines, and layers of soft washes of color. These movements echo that of a dancer, choreographed to an extent but ultimately improvisational and unpredictable in nature.
Katy Cowan (b. 1982, Lake Geneva, WI) received her BFA from University of Puget Sound (Puget Sound, WA) in 2004; and her MFA from Otis College of Art and Design (Los Angeles, CA) in 2014. Recent and upcoming solo and group exhibitions include "Painted Drawings" at Philip Martin Gallery. (Los Angeles, CA)’ Green Gallery (Milwaukee, WI); Miles McEnery Gallery (New York, NY); Haverkampf Leistenschneider (Berlin, Germany); and Meyer Riegger (Berlin Germany). Additional museum and gallery exhibitions include “Lines of Thought: Gestural Abstraction,” Berkeley Museum of Art and Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley, CA); “Selections from the Permanent Collection,” Milwaukee Art Museum (Milwaukee, WI); “From the Collection of Anonymous,” North Dakota Museum of Art (Grand Fork, ND); and “as the sun chases the unfurling fray,” Philip Martin Gallery (Los Angeles, CA). Cowan’s work has been the subject of solo and group institutional exhibitions at Otis College of Art and Design (Los Angeles, CA); University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA); Lynden Sculpture Garden (Milwaukee, WI); Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (Madison, WI); Synchrotron Radiation Center (Stoughton, WI); Poor Farm (Manawa, WI). She has had solo gallery exhibitions at The Green Gallery (Milwaukee, WI); Document (Chicago, IL); Kate Werble Gallery (New York, NY); and Fourteen30 Contemporary (Portland, OR). Cowan’s work is in public and private collections such as Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA); (Milwaukee Museum of Art (Milwaukee, WI); Minneapolis Museum of Art (Minneapolis, MN); North Dakota Museum of Art (Grand Fork, ND); Lynden Sculpture Garden (Milwaukee, WI); Art in Embassies (Maputo, Mozambique); and Northwestern Mutual Insurance (Milwaukee, WI). Her work has been reviewed in Artforum, Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Wallpaper*, Contemporary Art Review LA, Artnet, and other publications. Cowan lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Katy Cowan's exhibition, "Painted Drawings,” is online October 16 - 30, 2024. Works can be viewed at the gallery by appointment.
Philip Martin Gallery is open Wednesday-Saturday 11-5 and Tuesdays by appointment. The gallery is located at 3342 Verdugo Road, Los Angeles CA 90065. For additional images and information please call 323-507-2037 or email info@philipmartingallery.com.
