ARTiculAction
Margaret Withers (USA)
"In part, our capacity to make sense of something is rooted in storytelling and because we’re constantly processing the everydayness of our existence we come to see life as layered stories that fold together to make up our identity. Interrupting the flow of abstract shapes with simple flat houses and telephone poles breaks the viewing pace, as if a light bulb pop across the setting of the implied narrative —pulling the viewer into a space undefined where they can figure out the story or pretend a new one. It is the unfolding of a narrative that I’m interested in painting. "
Margartet Withers Margaret Withers is a visual artist who lives and works in New York city. Her paintings are fragments of stories found in an imaginary landscape that captures in the abstract the conflicting ideas of joy and melancholy, as well as community and aloneness in regards to the concept of home and communication. Including undertones of play and humor in her work is her way of engaging the viewer, extending an invitation to spend some time in this space and figure out the story, or to pretend a new one. Her web based transliteration project is based on cultural shifts in the 50 United States. Originally from Texas, Withers has exhibited her work throughout the country and internationally in Brussels, Australia, Berlin, China, Vienna and Russia. Her artwork is included in multiple private and corporate collections and has won numerous awards including a 2013/2015 resident fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center, a fellowship to the Millay Colony, and a 2013 USA Project Grant.