Karen Woods The Way to Wilder

KAREN WOODS Th e W ay to W i ld er

KAREN WOODS Ten years ago, as a passenger in a car driving down the freeway, I was struck by the light and shadow on a concrete overpass, the sun-glare on the hoods of other vehicles, and the road itself, with its white and yellow lane-lines pointing toward the horizon. I took out my camera and began to shoot pictures.

I didn’t know exactly what it was that captured my imagination that day. I hoped to discover it by using the photos as source material for paintings. The demands of intense observation that painting requires coupled with the desire to communicate the sensations I experienced might provide me with insight into its attraction and resonance.

After hundreds of paintings devoted to highways, intersections, road construction, dashboards, and wiper blades, I still cannot identify its exact allure. But that’s okay. I’ve discovered that the journey—this road—has its own rewards. After all, in the movies at least, the car chase is almost always better than its ending.

A significant body of work was triggered by a drive through a rainstorm. Pulling over to the side of the road, I watched as rivulets of water spread color and light across the windshield. It was as if I was looking at the underside of a loom’s cloth: instead of the clear woven image on top, I saw a glorious mess of tangled colored threads.

Throughout this time I’ve become aware of the relationships within the paintings themselves: the calm dashboard with the rushing world outside, the solitude of the car with the company of fellow drivers, and the sharply focused raindrops juxtaposed with a blurry background (or vice versa).

But relationships can be found beyond subject matter: in the two-dimensional quality of the windshield frame versus the three-dimensional space beyond the hood of the car, for example. I see the influence of artists throughout history who have employed this window motif: from ancient Roman murals to Matisse to Howard Hodgkin, from Japanese woodblock prints to Ed Ruscha’s “road trip” photographs to Catherine Opie’s Los Angeles freeways. Even da Vinci’s sfumato landscape painted behind Mona Lisa references this 2D/3D relationship. I’m sure I’m not the only viewer whose eyes have leapt over that stone wall to bask in the murky space beyond.

I will continue to move down the road—literally—to seek the beauty in the mundane, to communicate the visual transcendence in the driving experience, and to simply call attention to what might otherwise be overlooked. But I continue, also, to use this road as a means to explore the depth and breadth of the extraordinary challenges of painting.

Karen Woods, 2016

Bridge Oil on Canvas 46 x 68 2015

Bridge II Oil on Canvas 30 x 42 2016

Crisscross Oil on Canvas 30 x 42 2016

Double Helix Oil on Canvas 40 x 20 2015

Emerald City Oil on Canvas 30 x 30 2015

Emerald City II Oil on Canvas 30 x 30 2016

Fan IV (Aqua) Oil on Canvas 36 x 54 2016

Finer Things Oil on Canvas 26 x 40 2015 sold

Medallion Oil on Canvas 20 x 20 2016

Mercury Oil on Canvas 20 x 20 2016

Open Arms Oil on Canvas 38 x 50 2016

Quiet Time Oil on Canvas 48 x 68 2015

Sweet Stop Oil on Canvas 42 x 38 2015

The Way to Wilder Oil on Canvas 40 x 48 2015

Karen Woods Born 1963, Seattle, Washington EDUCATION B.F.A. California College of the Arts, Oakland, 1987

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2015 Shift, Stewart Gallery, Boise, ID (catalogue) From Here, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2014 New York | New Work, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY 2013 Driving Rain, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2012 Exhibition and Artist Dialogue, Surel’s Place, Garden City, ID 2009 Inside Looking Out, Stewart Gallery, Boise, ID

GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2015 Weather or Not, Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID 2014 Selected Works: Catherine Christiano, Paul Schulenberg, Karen Woods, Art Essex Gallery, Essex CT Industrial Beauty, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY In Good Company, Quidley & Company Fine Art, Boston, MA The Cityscape Show IV, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA New Ground, Surel’s Other Place, Garden City, ID 2013 Road Trip, Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC Urban: The Art of Jan Boles, Charles Gill, Michael Miller and Karen Woods, Boise Art Museum In Good Company, Quidley & Company Fine Art, Boston, MA Art in Traffic, Visual Arts Collective, Garden City, ID Upon Reflection, Quidley & Company Fine Art, Boston, MA 2012 Urban Intersection, Quidley & Company Fine Art, Boston, MA The Cityscape Show II, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Twenty-Five, Stewart Gallery, Boise, ID Idaho Commission on the Arts Fellowship Exhibition, Idaho Statehouse, Boise, (catalogue) 2011 Dallas Art Fair, Stewart Gallery The Cityscape Show, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA The Buildings of New York, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY 2010 Is Anybody Out There?, Group Invitational, Stewart Gallery, Boise, ID Urban Stages, CornerHouse Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA Idaho Triennial, Boise Art Museum, Beth Sellars, juror (catalogue) More Than a Pretty Face, Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID 2009 Idaho Paints Idaho, Art Museum of Eastern Idaho, Idaho Falls, ID Modern Art, Modern Hotel, Boise, ID 2008 Karen Woods: New Works, Stewart Gallery Summer Group Exhibition, Boise Modern Art, Modern Hotel, Boise, ID 2007 20/20, Stewart Gallery, Boise, ID Small Works, Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont, CA Canopy: New Work by Elyce Elder and Karen Woods, Harrison Center, Indianapolis, IN 2006 Karen Woods/Michael Miller, Friesen Galleries, Nampa, ID

SELECTED PROJECTS 2013 Commissioned artwork, Surviving Minidoka, The Legacy of Japanese American Incarceration, Boise State University, College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, publisher.

2010 Commissioned artwork, Quintessential Boise, an Architectural Journey, Charles Hummel et al. Boise State University, College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, publisher.

2009 Traffic Control Box Cover Design, Capitol & Main Street Intersection, Boise, ID 2000 Mural, River of Time, Boise State University

REVIEWS & PUBLICATIONS Carlson, Jeffrey, “Karen Woods Cityscapes” Fine Art Connoisseur, January 2014 Towne, Michelle, “Karen Woods and Christopher Stott”, American Art Collector, December 2013 Van Baelen, Leen, “Karen Woods” De Morgan, Belgium Oland, Dana, “Reframing Boise’s Visual Language”, Idaho Statesman, July 19, 2013 New American Paintings, West edition, October 2013 O’Hern, John, “Final Fall”, American Art Collector, February 2013 Corriel, Michele, “Illuminations: Ones to Watch”, Western Art & Architecture, Summer/Fall 2010 Schnoor, Christopher, “Inside Looking Out at Stewart Gallery” art ltd, Jan/Feb 2010 Morgan, Tara, “Karen Woods Opening at Stewart Gallery” Boise Weekly, September 24, 2009 Schnoor, Christopher, “Heavy Traffic: New Work by Karen Woods” Boise Weekly, August 20, 2008 Oland, Dana, “On the Road with Artist Karen Woods” Idaho Statesman, August 15, 2008 Schnoor, Christopher, “Fresh Visions: Kevan Smith and Karen Woods at Stewart Gallery” Boise Weekly, December 28, 2005 Frost, Jim, “Branching Out: Karen Woods” Black Canyon Quarterly, Summer 2002 Schnoor, Christopher, “On the Horizon at Stewart Gallery”, Artweek, March 2000

COLLECTIONS Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID (acquisition) Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA (acquisition) The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho Boise State University Cary Street Partners LLC, Charlotte, NC Gary Bettis, Portland, OR Driek and Michael Zirinsky, Boise, ID Skip and Esther Oppenheimer, Boise, ID Boise Visual Chronicle Givens Pursley LLP, Boise, ID Les Bois Partners LLP, Boise, ID

AWARDS AND HONORS 2012 Nominated: United States Artists Fellowship, Los Angeles, CA 2011 Visual Arts Fellowship, Honorable Mention, Idaho Commission on the Arts 2011 Nominated: Catherine Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting, Salt Lake Art Center, UT 2010 Finalist: Contemporary Northwest Art Awards, Portland Art Museum, Portland,OR 2010 Awarded Residency and Merit-based Artist’s Grant, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT 2010 Quickfunds Professional Development Grant, Idaho Commission on the Arts