For the last year and a half I haven’t released or shown a single new painting. Instead I worked on exploring and experimenting, showing very little of my process to others. Now I’m near finishing over 100 paintings—an entirely new body of work.
These works will be shown for the first time in my solo show with Athen B Gallery, called Conversations and Color, this coming fall in San Francisco. And I'd like to personally invite you to the exhibition—opening October 6th at a soon to be disclosed location. In anticipation, Athen B Gallery and I are pleased to release a preview of 24 new paintings, available today.
The title Conversations and Color evolved from the eternal connection between conversations and line, color, people, places and things. Conversations represent interaction and exchanges. Not only between people, but between nature and human. Observing the rhythm of a tide and the rhythm of a city—it all breaks down into line, texture, color and constant reactions. And then there are the conversations that live within us. Our own voices and those of others affect the way we think and go about our day. These conversations become ideas and memories that grow and evolve—or dissolve.
But it’s color that actually punctuates conversations, both the external and internal kinds. Because color is emotion, movement and response.
Over the course of a year and a half, I needed space and time to work through what I was discovering. The more I painted, the more I wanted to keep looking. It was research. My thoughts were organized like an open-ended mind map and paintings become the bridge between. I took what I experienced from looking, listening and feeling and made organic compilations of things I saw and ways I felt on canvas. The process of painting required that same fluidity paralleled in nature--from choppy quick marks to the surging washes of paint. It also required conversations. The distance and communication between negative and positive space in my work left room for thought, reflection, discussion and always more marks.
The only way to hear these conversations was to take it slower and listen.
When you look at these paintings my hopes are two-fold. I hope they grab your attention and they take you somewhere I’ve been. It’d be nice to go together this time.
Conversations and Color: A Solo Show by Heather Day with Athen B Gallery.
OPENING NIGHT : October 6th, 2017. The show runs for one month at a soon to be disclosed location in San Francisco. You can view new paintings here and connect with us if you have any questions.
