FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Karla Wozniak: Road Works
June 2008
Opening reception: Thursday, June 5, 5:30-7:30 PM
Gallery Hours: Tuesday � Saturday, 10:30-5:30 PM
Email: info@gregorylindgallery
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.
While Wozniak�s paintings are regionally specific, they act as fractured composites of places more than literal renditions. The spaces that Wozniak is invested in are standardized and mundane-ranging from truck-stop diners to ungainly strip malls. Rather than rendering images of familiar signs and spectacles with clean lines, Wozniak prefers velocity-driven splashes of paint and representations that are slightly off-kilter and not drawn to scale. Streaks of paint and various symbols of development are juxtaposed against each other creating an edited, personalized view. The quirky, handmade quality of her pieces emphasizes the specificity of each destination as well as the individual�s unique relationship to it.
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.