Karla Wozniak
Bird of Paradise, 2024
acrylic and oil on canvas
50 x 56 in.
Karla Wozniak’s paintings are a synthesis of thoughts and ideas originating from her everyday life, including reflections on the childhood games and activities her daughter enjoys and the dramatic weather events – wind, rain, fire, smoke, flooding – she has experienced living in the San Francisco Bay Area in recent years, and the climate anxieties they evoke. To convey this in paint, Wozniak employs vivid colors and heavily textured impasto on her canvases. The dominant feature in each of the compositions is the use of looping lines to break up pictorial space, which also serve to create smaller pockets of experience. In some works, the line can evoke recognizable imagery, such as smoke, water, balls, or a jump rope. In others it behaves more abstractly, forming interlocking and overlapping shapes that recall the early modernist forms used by painters such as Charles Burchfield, Henri Matisse, and Hilma af Klint. This dance between representation and abstraction is important to Wozniak, allowing elements in her paintings to have multiple identities.
KARLA WOZNIAK
EDUCATION
2005
MFA, Yale University, Painting and Printmaking, New Haven, CT
2003
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME
2000
BFA, Rhode Island School of Design, Painting Major, Art History Minor, Providence, RI
2000
European Honors Program, Rhode Island School of Design, Rome, Italy
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Current:
Associate Professor, California College of Arts, San Francisco, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Karla Wozniak: Heavy Weather, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Karla Wozniak: Sunshower, Et al, San Francisco, CA
2022
Cat’s Cradle, Roll Up Projects, Oakland, CA
2018
I Often Dream of Mountains, Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR
Living Room Days, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA (Catalog)
2015
The Valley Electric, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA (Catalog)
2013
This Weather Is Cosmic, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA (Catalog)
Magic Mountain, Colburn Gallery, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
Blue Highway, Trailer Park Proyects, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2011
Significant Landscapes, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010
Your Ad Here, Rebecca Ibel Gallery, Columbus, OH (Catalog)
2008
Road Works, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
In Residence, Studio Archive Project, New York, NY
2021
A Stiller Life, Deanna Evans Projects, Queens, NY
2020
Seeing Double, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund Gallery, ODC Theater, San Francisco, CA
2019
Highway Blues, curated by JJ Manford, Underdonk Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Fog of Conspiracy, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Nature Studies, Wild Projects at Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
Surreal Sublime: Contemporary Landscapes, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
Three-Person Presentation, Dallas Art Fair, Gregory Lind Gallery, Dallas, TX
2018
INDOOR/OUTDOOR, curated by Glen Helfand and Kim Nguyen, Focus California, Toronto Art Fair, Toronto, ON
Two-Person presentation, Focus California, Toronto Art Fair, Gregory Lind Gallery, Toronto Art Fair, Toronto, ON
For the Love of Painting, Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH
2017
Fortune Teller Chatter, three-person exhibition, Bard College at Simon’s Rock Hilman-Jackson Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
Currents, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN
2016
Two-Person presentation, Seattle Art Fair, Gregory Lind Gallery, Seattle, WA
SIX, Regina Rex, New York, NY
2015
Gazing Inland, Coop Gallery, Nashville, TN
Land Rush, David Lusk Gallery, Nashville, TN
Contemporary Focus, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN
2014
Souvenir, Regina Rex, Queens NY
In On, Heliopolis, Brooklyn, NY
Four Painters, The Property, Los Angeles, CA
All Worked Up, Rhombus Space, Brooklyn, NY
Think / Make / Think, Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Summer Group Show, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Higher Learning, curated by Dannielle Tegeder, Lehman College, Bronx, NY
2013
Wish You Were Here, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Ketchum, ID
RELAY RELAY, Ortega E Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY
doorroomwindow II, PULSE, Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, New York, NY
2012
Mark, Wipe, Scrape, Shape, SPACESHIFTER, Brooklyn, NY
Decade, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Quadrivium, Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
LIFE AND TIMES: Contemporary Notions of Place, Georgia Southern University Gallery, Statesboro, GA
2011
Bronx Calling: The First AIM Biennial, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
2010
Weasel, curated by Kurt Mueller and Chelsea Beck, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX
Rhyme, Not Reason, curated by John Yau, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Cooler Heads Prevail, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009
Oscillate Wildly, Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn, NY
Brooklyn Redrawn, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn, NY
2008
This Modern World, curated by Paddy Johnson, GE Headquarters, Fairfield, CT
Crossed Country, Sherman Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA
Everywhere and Nowhere, Platform/Denise Bibro, New York, NY
2007
Something for the Commute, Brooklyn Fire Proof, Brooklyn, NY
A Muzzle of Bees, 33 Bond Gallery, New York, NY
2006
Local Transit, Artists Space, New York, NY
2005
Skyline, Sherman Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA
Yale MFA Painting Thesis Exhibition, New Haven, CT
2004
Perspectives, Galerie Koch, Hannover, Germany
Inside Outside, Allston Skirt Gallery, Boston, MA (two-person exhibition)
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Morris, Barbara. “Karla Wozniak@Gregory Lind,” SquareCylinder, March 2018
Cheng, DeWitt. “Karla Wozniak, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA,” Visual Art Source October, 2015
Chun, Kimberly. “Karla Wozniak Paintings a Colorful Hybrid of Bay Area, South,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 25, 2015
Butler, Sharon. “Preview: Karla Wozniak at Gregory Lind,” TwoCoatsofPaint.com, September 7, 2015
Kelley, Megan. “Landscape Art Shape Shifts at David Lush Gallery,” The Tennessean, July 8, 2015
Duncan, S. Heather. “Painter Karla Wozniak Considers the Politics and Landscape of the Land Around Us,” Knoxville Mercury, April 1, 2015
Yau, John. “The Inimitable and Influential Art of Catherine Murphy,” Hyperallergic.com, August 11, 2013
Campbell, Karen. “Critics Picks, The Week Ahead: Theater, Galleries, and Museums,” Boston Globe, September 11, 2013
Morris, Barbara. “Karla Wozniak: ‘This Weather Is Cosmic’ at Gregory Lind,” Art Ltd. Magazine, republished on Painters-Table.com September, 2013
Baker, Kenneth. “Working the World into Works of Art,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 5, 2013
“‘This Weather is Cosmic’ at Gregory Lind,” SFArtEnthusiast.com, July 18, 2013
“Karla Wozniak at Gregory Lind,” Juxtapoz Magazine, July 21, 2013
Kim, Lucy. “This Weather Is Cosmic,” This Weather Is Cosmic catalog, Gregory Lind Gallery, June 2013
Zevitas, Steven. “Must-See Painting Shows: June,” NewAmericanPainting.com, June 10, 2013
“South, Issue 100,” New American Paintings, Open Studios Press, Boston, MA, June/July 2012
Martin, Sarah. “The Maximalist Painter: Karla Wozniak,” Modern Ink Magazine, November 28, 2012
Kohler, William Eckhardt. “Painting Lives! ‘Mark, Wipe, Scrape, Shape’ at Spaceshifter,” HuffingtonPost.com, November, 29, 2012
Zevita, Steven. “Must-See Painting Shows: July/August,” NewAmericanPaintings.com, July 10, 2012
Johnson, Ken. “Learning about the Marketplace and Entering It,” New York Times, August 12, 20
“Karla Wozniak at Gregory Lind Gallery,” Juxtapoz Magazine, July 21, 2011
Esplund, Lance. “Bronx Calling: The First AIM Biennial Taking Aim,” The Wall Street Journal, July 9, 2011
Chun, Kimberly. “Karla Wozniak: ‘Significant Landscapes’ at Gregory Lind,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 30, 2011
Britt, Douglas. “Weasel: A Show About Art Fakes at Inman Annex,” Houston Chronicle, January 6, 2011
Klaasmeyer, Kelly. “Weasels and Deer,” Houston Press, December 15, 2010
Naves, Mario. “Rhyme, Not Reason; Curated by John Yau,” City Arts, September 28, 2010
Yates, Christopher. “Your Ad Here: Paintings Reveal Signs of Conformity,” Columbus Dispatch, March 14, 2010
Brooklyn Redrawn preview, Fox Five, Good Day New York, February 27, 2009
Neidl, Phoebe. “History Meets Art at New BHS Exhibition,” Brooklyn Eagle, January 8, 2009
Baker, R.C. “Best In Show, Karla Wozniak,” Village Voice, p. 46, February 20-25, 2008, p. 46
Coburn, Tyler. “Something for the Commute,” ArtReview, p. 72, February 2007, p. 72
Blagojevic, B. “A Muzzle of Bees at 33 Bond,” Art Cal, The Zine, October 4, 2007
“When it Stings like a Bee,” New York Sun, September 28, 2007
Harper’s Magazine, April 2005, p. 15
CURATORIAL
2019 Making (It) Work, Oliver Art Center, California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA. Curated with Georgia Elrod.
2013 The Sacred and Profane Love Machine, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY
2012 Mark, Wipe, Scrape, Shape, SHAPESHIFTER, Brooklyn, NY. Curated with Sangram Majumdar
2013/14 Founding Member of Ortega y Gasset Projects, Queens, New York
2009 Oscillate Wildly, Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn, NY. Curated with Linnea Paskow
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Knoxville Museum of Art
Karla Wozniak
Shape Shifter, 2022
oil pastel, colored ink, gouache, graphite on paper
32 1/2 x 26 in.
Karla Wozniak
Night Garden, 2022
oil pastel, colored ink, gouache, graphite on paper
32 1/2 x 26 in.
Karla Wozniak
Falling Leaves, 2023
acrylic and oil on canvas
38 x 30 in.
