Karla Wozniak: Road Works
June 2008
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 5, 5:30-7:30 PM
Gregory Lind Gallery is proud to present Road Works, new paintings and drawings by New York-based artist Karla Wozniak. Wozniak's work depicts an American landscape defined by automotive culture and the social ramifications of suburban sprawl. Her paintings, inspired by road trips, depict places ranging from beach town strips in Florida to towns and suburbs in New Jersey, to big cities like Los Angeles, where buildings and brand names vie for space alongside the vanishing natural landscape.
Wozniak's work translates the language and symbolism of development to remarkable effect. Fast food, car dealership and lodging signs loom above the land; these placards and billboards are symptomatic of cookie-cutter development and the lures of tourism and consumerism. As telephone poles visually collide with shops, chain restaurants, and bursts of occasional foliage, Wozniak also manages to construct a subtle commentary around those elements missing in her work-natural landscapes and the disappearing vernacular of the nation's open roads.
Karla Wozniak, a native of Berkeley, CA, received her MFA from the Yale School of Art. Her recent exhibitions include This Modern World, GE Headquarters, Fairfield, CT; Crossed Country, Sherman Gallery, Boston University, MA; and Everywhere and Nowhere, Platform/Denise Bibro, New York, NY. Wozniak's distinctions include a 2007 MacDowell Colony Fellowship in Peterborough, NH; and a 2005 Alice Kimball English Traveling Fellowship from the Yale University School of Art. Her work has been noted in a number of publications, including the Village Voice and Harper's. She is currently a visiting instructor at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.
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EXHIBITION IMAGES - CLICK FOR ENLARGED VIEW
Arlington Diner,
North Arlington, NJ, 2007
watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, acrylic on paper
15 x 22 in.
Lil Chef, Brighton, MI, 2008
watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, acrylic on paper
28.5 x 30.25 in.
Suburban Diner, Paramus, NJ, 2007
watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, acrylic on paper
15 x 22 in.
Theo and Stacey's, Kalamazoo, MI, 2007
watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, acrylic on paper
15 x 22 in.