into star lake, letters falling into words

I have absolutely nothing to say about Margaret Withers.  Today, staring out my studio window at the Manhattan skyline lit by that warm east coast spring light, watching the school trucks leave their sheltered bus barn, and listening to the beeping of all the backing trucks, it seems, that at this moment, Into the inky star lake my words have fallen.

My artwork will be available at these upcoming group shows:

AS – Boom & Blum  at The Phatory, located at 618 East 9th St. (btw Ave B and C), May 3 – 31; opening reception May 3, 6p-9p, curated by Jill Conner.

Wide Open IV at BWAC, located at 76 Degraw St., Red Hook, Brooklyn, May 11 – June 16; opening reception May 11, 1p-6p, juried by Carrie Springer, curator at the Whitney Museum.

 

Das Wird Sich Alles Finden

Upcoming group shows where you can see my artwork:

Arts Collinwood is pleased to present, Das Wird Sich Alles Finden [everything will turn out alright]. The German title speaks to the origin of the exhibit. Curated by Christopher L. Richards.  Location: 15605 Waterloo Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44110
Exhibit Opening April 5, 6-9pm, show up April 1st-27th.

Gallery 263 Group Show curated by Laura Frances April 18-May 12.  Please check the website for the opening reception.  263 Pearl Street • Cambridge, MA • 02139

at Gallery 263- star throwing Centaurs reclining on the exomoons

At Arts Collinwood -fleeing Ike

at Arts Collinwood
blushing eastward where blue earth is gathered

at Arts Collinwood duchess pyjama cassowary shyly moved among the leaves

Vermont Studio Center Residency

I just got back from a two week residency at Vermont Studio Center.  This was my first residency experience and I found it well worth my time. I really enjoyed the readings and talks at night and getting to know other artist and writers. I especially found the feedback on my artwork in progress by the other artist, and  in particular, the two visiting artist, William Lamson and Emily Cheng who each did critiques/studio visits to be especially beneficial.

Below are some images of VSC and my studio in the Barbara White studio building.

Two large acrylic painting that I worked on while at VSC.

Margaret Withers’ Studio at VSC February, 2013

Margaret Withers VSC studio

morning at Vermont Studio Center

view from studio window at VSC

morning at Vermont Studio Center

A previous person left this lovely drawing of birds flying out of the window at VSC

the word is the image of the thing, and the thing is tied up and words are few

In 1979 my dad sold his camper.   He tweaked and built onto that camper for over 10 years and most nights, as it sat parked in our Houston suburban driveway,  he could be found inside, at the table, smoking and drinking coffee.  79′ was the year he turned 50, the year he got laid-off after 2o years of service, the year we moved to San Antonio, the US inflation rate hit 13%, Pol Pot was finally deposed, Iran took hostages, Carter was attacked by a swamp bunny and it snowed for 30 minutes in the Sahara Desert.  Allow me this… keep the space that you can breath in close to your heart.

I recently got accepted into the Drawing Center Viewing Program, and I’m excited to be heading off for my first Residency experience at the Vermont Studio Center later this month.

My artwork will be available at these upcoming events:

2/8/13 – Artist Studio’s host ‘Real-Time’ pop-up show at 526 W. 26th st. #523, NYC at 7:00pm curated by Jill Conner.

2/8/13 – “Stuck” pop-up show at 122 West 26th street, 5th floor, NYC at 6:00pm.   Arcilesi and Homberg Fine Art Pop-Up show series- curated by AHA intern Ariel Herman.

2/20/13– Issue Project Room Art Lottery Fund Raiser at Three-Legged Dog: 80 Greenwich St., NYC at 7:00pm, curated by Stephen Maine.

the word is the image of the thing, and the thing is tied up and words are few 48”x 12” x 12” wood, string, steel, wire, plaster, iron – at “Stuck”

maya-moh flew into as moonlight slipped past; 12″x16″ framed, watercolor, ink and enamel at “Stuck”

nights face blushing into a warm pillow twitched; 8.5″x12″ framed; watercolor and ink at “Real-Time”

dancing, twirling and spinning in the antiblue; 22″x31.5″ framed; watercolor, ink and enamel on paper at Issue Project Room

Embrace the ache

Not long ago, while I was listening to a Phillip Glass piano concerto, I experienced an ache brought on by his music. I tried to identify the nature of what I was feeling, what was it made of, and where in my body or mind in resided. That twinge in my psyche when I experience ephemeral beauty serves to underscore my connection to humanity, and my place within it. That ache can be demanding, but if I willingly give myself over to it, it never fails to propel me out of the muck of my daily existence.
This month, in light of all the art that you might be planning to see in Miami (or elsewhere) – I encourage you to give in to beauty’s ache.

Below is some artwork that I’ll have in Miami at Aqua room 115, courtesy of William Baczek Fine Arts and at Fountain, booth C-14 courtesy of Arcilesi Homberg Fine Art.  Also, I’m excited to now be a part of the  Pierogi Flat Files . Couple of other shows in December: a group show curated by Lesley Guy in Sheffield, England at Bloc Projects and a pop up show curated by Art Snack Registry.

on the nature of things – at Aqua

among the cabbage stalls the machouettes fingered tapestry purses – At Aqua

butterfly flap, carcrash, landspout – at Fountain

 

remembering landslips and houseboys in dustcart storybooks

2012 Solo Show at AHA – Painting the American Anti-Story

I have a solo show coming up called  “Painting the American Anti-Story” at Arcilesi & Homberg Fine Art (AHA). The opening reception is on November 1st from 6-9pm and the show is up from Nov. 1st – Dec 1st at 111 Front St, Suite 222 – DUMBO). Painting the American anti-story: free e-book download the PDF of the solo show – Painting the American Anti-Story Also, on October, 29th, I’ll have a piece at the Nurture Art Fundraiser at the Charles Bank Gallery - tickets are available at the Nurture Art website.

two trajectories in philosophy spanking with an inkling of self

the ratter of seraph can initiate septuagenarian veer

infinitely divisible matter, mattered less and less

Brussels Accessible Art Fair

Below are some of the paintings that I plan to take to the Brussels Accessible Art Fair, September, 21st-23rd at the Conrad.

making a tack of lazes in a menagerie of leaders

a single marsh flows through the memory of statisticians

eyewitness foul-ups of the neckerchief needlewoman

telling tales of eye-opening fortune-tellers of a navy foursome

many eyelash fortnights of navel gazing continuations followed

tangled and buzzed in ocean waves sliding

a course runs obliquely against the wind

in a tab of green lawns lay many an eyeful of warm earth and regret

sun dogs in the sky

Kepler gravitated toward the puddles of deviating orbits

Sometimes goals are reached inadvertently…

I’m excited to announce that the curators, Francesca Arcilesi and Norma Homberg, who have regularly shown my artwork at pop-up shows and art fairs are now opening a gallery in Brooklyn, NY.  Their first show is called “Recess”, and I would love for you to come to their grand opening and meet them at their new space.  The opening reception is July 12th from 6-9pm at FAFA, 111 Front St., Suite 222 in DUMBO, NYC.  Below is the piece that I’ll be showing.  I’m also in the group show, “Color”, at BWAC later this month (see below for more information).

white-rumped monjitas moving through crystalline waterspouts; 2012; 34″x42″; Watercolor, Ink and Enamel on paper -Exhibition dates: 7/12-8/1. The opening Reception for the group show “Recess” is July 12th from 6-9pm at FAFA, 111 Front St. in DUMBO, NYC.

Kepler gravitated toward the puddles of deviating orbits; 2012; 50″x38″; Watercolor, Ink and Enamel on paper -Exhibition dates: 7/28-8/19. The opening Reception for the group show “Color” is July 28th, 1-6pm at BWAC, 76 DeGraw St., Red Hook, NYC.

Also at the BWAC “Color” show - That bird went to church!; 2009; 15″x15″; pen and ink on paper.

behind Kant, everything was happening at once

Sometimes, when looking at art a moment occurs, a pause during which a deviation from the expected path is revealed and something unexpected is illuminated, as if a lightening flash on the surface — revealing the actual narrative buried inside of the perceived story.

Below is artwork that I’ll have in three upcoming group shows at the Jeffrey Leder Gallery, NYC; Attleboro Arts Museum, MA and Southwest Arkansas Art Center, AK.
behind Kant, everything was happening at once  2012; 22″x31.5″; Watercolor, Ink and Enamel on paper –  Exhibition dates: 6/24 – 7/15.    The opening Reception for the group show “Works on Paper NYC” at the Jeffrey Leder Gallery is June 24th from 5pm-7pm.
touching his toes in the electron sea, watching waves of lead  2012; 22″x31.5″; Watercolor, Ink and Enamel on paper - Exhibition dates: 6/16 – 6/30/12.   Th e opening Reception for the group show “Remembering” at the Attleboro Art Museum is Saturday, June 16^th from 1-4pm.

the gas giants, feeling perturbed, clomped among the scattered disks  2012; 38.5′x49.5′; Watercolor, Ink and Enamel on paper -Exhibition dates: 7/6- 7/31.  The opening Reception for the 2012 Juried group show at the South Arkansas Art Center is July 21st from 6-7:30pm.

staring out at absolute space

On a sheet of paper I pour a line.  The randomness of the line becomes a freedom for form; sometimes it become a lever, an arm, a piece of machinery, the ground swept prairie with a house and a telephone pole, and either an openness or an unconstrained bustle.

If you are in New York in April I would like to invite you to come see several pieces of my artwork at the upcoming Affordable Art Fair in NYC, April 18th-22nd at 6 W. 35st, courtesy of Galerie Juliane Hundertmark, Booth E6.  On Monday, April 23, I’ll have artwork at the Rema Hort Mann Foundation, Buy What you Love 2012 Fundraiser at The Hole at 312 Bowery St. from 6:30-9:30pm.

in a tinderbox jumble she set upon slipping into her escape
2012; 22 x 31.5 in; watercolor, ink and enamel on paper

Attack of the Lyman-alpha blob
2012; 22 x 31.5 in; watercolor, ink and enamel on paper

Dancing, twirling and spinning in the antiblue
2012; 31.5 x 22 in; watercolor, ink and enamel on paper

staring out at absolute space
2012; 22x31.5; watercolor, ink and enamel on paper

the nuisance of a single thought

The working of my imagination left in solitude, simmered in anxiety, immune to self-judgement and away from the connections and chatter of technology has unlimited possibilities to grow as if it were a virus in a petri dish disguising its activity until it becomes its own pandemic taking over my plain white sheet of paper.

I would like to invite you to come see several pieces of my artwork  at the upcoming Fountain Art Fair in NYC at the Armory March 9-11 courtesy of  Art for Progress and FAFA .  The following weekend, March 18 I’ll have some pieces in the  BWAC‘s, Wide Open Three show in Red Hook, Brooklyn.   See you there!

At Fountain - Art for Progress - "the Sun itself is solitary" 66"x50"; Watercolor, Ink and Enamel on Paper

At Fountain- Art for Progress,"the nuisance of a single thought",48”x33.5”, watercolor, ink and enamel on paper

At Fountain - FAFA -"dithering and diddering to the docken she went to pick some dogfinkil",15”x15”;unframed; watercolor, ink and enamel on paper

At Fountain - FAFA -"sun dogs in the sky",30"x41"; watercolor, ink and enamel on paper

At Fountain - FAFA - "Slipping Summer"; 12"x 8.5" unframed, watercolor, ink and enamel on paper

At BWAC-Wide Open show - "a warm stellar wind" 50"x50"; Watercolor, Ink and Enamel on paper

At BWAC- Wide Open Show - "the Exponents turn to mock us" 10"x12"; watercolor, ink and enamel on paper

lovers and lunatics lost in the stratagem

When I wrote my first artist’s statement over fifteen years ago, it wasn’t so much a statement about my art as it was a love letter to my muse, completely and unabashedly from the heart, but perhaps best kept in a shoebox.    If like me, you have no mastery of words, instead of a letter, imagine giving a work of art to yourself or someone you love. Art is long-lasting, metaphorically rich, keeps you company, speaks meaningfully in wordless language, and  enriches your life. To paraphrase Shakespeare, the art’s the thing.

I would like to invite you to a group show I’m in called “WannA Piece?” curated by Francesci Arcilesi Fine Art.  The opening party is Wednesday, February, 8th from 6-9 at 122 W. 26th street (btw 6th and 7th Ave), on the 5th floor at Contra Studios, NYC.

Below is the artwork that I’ll have in the show.  40″x60″; 2012; Watercolor, ink & enamel on transparency film mounted on archival paper.

lovers and lunatics lost in the stratagem

remembering landslips and houseboys in dustcart storybooks

Box art.                                                                                                                                      Outside: Watercolor, ink and enamel.                                                                                    Inside: Poured enamel with tiny people caught in daily life.

   

    

Studio Visit Magazine volume 16

My artwork was selected by Tang Museum curator Ian Berry to be in the just released Volume 16 of Studio Visit Magazine.  The two paintings, spindletop boomtown and oompop are available for purchase at Cohn Drennan Contemporary in Dallas.

Studio Visit volume16

Studio Visit volume16

Aqua11 and Fountain Miami Art Fairs

Art fairs – you either love them or hate them, or like facebook you love to hate it but use them anyway.  After doing two art fairs this year on my own (AAF in Brussels and Berliner-Liste in Berlin) I see the value of art fairs -the sheer number of people who get to see your artwork on one long weekend, the chance you get (over and over again) to talk about your artwork to strangers, the lessons in commodification of art and the hype cycle experience, all, good and bad, but worthwhile as an artist to experience.

For galleries, it seems the advantages are pretty identical,  kind of a repeatable black friday for the art world.

I’m excited to be represented by both William Baczek Fine Arts at Aqua 11 Art Fair and by Francesca Arcilesi Fine Art at the Fountain Art Fair in Miami, FL Dec. 1st-3rd.  My artwork will be in great company at the William Baczek Gallery since WB will also be showing artwork by Kurt Vonnegut.   Below is some of my artwork that will be available.

'Juriks trembling hands moved toward Euler's piece of cherry pie' at WB

from 'chautauqua zoo' series at FAFA

'staring down the hole' at WB

  2505 N. Miami Ave (at the corner of 25th St)

 

1530 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139

free .pdf of ‘Painting the American Anti-Story’ 2013 ed. 1 artwork by Margaret Withers

Below is a link to the free .pdf version of my latest catalog of my works on paper from ‘Painting the American Anti-Story’, please feel free to download this version. ‘Margaret_Withers_Paintings_2013_ed1

“Creativity is that marvelous capacity to grasp mutually distinct realities and draw a spark from their juxtaposition.” – Max Ernst

Painting the American Anti-Story

Hurricane Sandy  update – The opening Reception will now be on Thursday, Nov. 8th from 6-9pm.

Painting the American Anti-Story” project is an ongoing body of work that strives to open a space between the viewer and the art; and between the point of recognition of an identifiable form and the abstract.

By ignoring structural conventions of traditional narrative paintings, Withers’ anti-story paintings interrupt the flow of abstract shapes and forms with the familiar or nostalgic, causing a pause in the viewing pace, as if a lightning strike across the setting of an implied narrative. This pause causes a flash of possibilities for a story by suggesting a direction that the viewer can take in forming a narrative.
Withers states, “I want the viewer, upon seeing my paintings, to add their layer of creativity to mine. An addition should exist with each viewing, and with each viewer; layer upon layer of interpretation, what someone else sees changing what someone else saw initially, and so on, to some point over time to when it no longer is my painting and my creativity, but instead is now fully owned by the viewer, becoming their own changing narrative.”
The flat black and white houses are from Withers’ childhood growing up in Texas and are the static iconography of a fast becoming American past: tiny company houses where the roughnecks lived, old-style telephone poles and pumpjacks. The eyes connected by tendrils and the red enamel mouths are images that Withers has been trying to figure out for more than fifteen years, when after a severe migraine, she found that she had scribbled an eye in black marker on the bottom of her shower curtain. Not knowing why she drew an eye, or even remembering having drawn it, it became the genesis of a figure that she’s been trying to puzzle out in her paintings. In her current work, that figure has morphed into a mouth and eyes and has become a recurring player in these anti-stories.

infinitely divisible matter, mattered less and less