Artist: Laura Bidwa

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts presents Each, an exhibition of paintings by artist Laura Bidwa. This is her first solo exhibition with the gallery and takes place in the new “Pocket” gallery at the 179 10th Avenue location.

Bidwa’s recent paintings are composed of layers of oil, latex, and spray paints on panels that the artist applies with a confident and exuberant brush. Planes of color are disrupted by bold brushwork, building organic forms carefully laid down, which create distinct, painterly shapes. The simplicity of the background creates the clarity necessary to highlight the eccentric use of color.

The paintings are packed with contradictions, as they are both energetic and quiet, textured and smooth. Surfaces are matte or gloss, thin and thick. In the artist’s own words, “If it works, I can draw a viewer into looking at a painting very carefully, noticing the gesture of a brushstroke or a shape, how the paint’s edges change, how the surface of the oil paint is matte or slightly less matte or shiny, how the colors shift as the paint is thicker or thinner. I hope the viewer is able to be lost in looking, seeing one thing after another even in this simple object.”

Laura Bidwa is based in Columbus, Ohio and received her BFA in Painting in 1990 from Indiana University and her MFA in Painting and Drawing in 1996 from The Ohio State University. She has participated in several national and international residencies including at the Vermont Studio Center and in Dresden, Germany through the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Bidwa has exhibited extensively across the U.S. and Europe in both commercial and nonprofit galleries as well as art fairs in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Her work is included in over 100 private, public, and corporate art collections.