Katherine Sandoz

Polar Peony

2014-2015

Katherine Sandoz is inspired by the work of Helen Frankenthaler, Richard Diebenkorn, Morris Louis Bernstein, Vincent Van Gogh, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell and Neil Welliver. In recent years, she has created four-year-long projects of which a series called JUBILEE is the last. While painting both indoors and out, from life and photographs, with the JUBILEE series, Sandoz revisits favorite subjects and locations painting them again and again.

After reflecting on the works she has created over the past 25 years, Sandoz represents both subject and mode within the new works. By shifting the palette and alternating the translucence and opacity of the individual passages, Sandoz asks the viewer to shift their perception about what is being shown and from what vantage point or points. With many layers and crisscrossing of complementary colors, the canvas records observations of light, weather, time, color and hints at changing practices, perceptions and perspectives both physical, intellectual and emotional. Most importantly, the work makes notes on the perennial and ever-changing beauty found near to the artist and her home in Savannah, Georgia.

With the marshes, waterways and people of the low-country offering perennial inspiration, Sandoz examines the quotidian and offers work that celebrates what is precious and unique. She studies, analyzes, and re-frames small moments, the mundane, neglected details of the day and the diurnal rhythms that, in turn, inspire illustrations, paintings, fibers-based works, installations and public art.

Utilizing passages of transparent and opaque, warm and cool, textured and smooth layers, Sandoz creates dynamic compositions allowing the viewer to experience the subject matter from multiple vantage points at once. Her paintings and fiber works have been exhibited internationally. She also creates portraits, art and installations for private clients as well as for fashion, contemporary culture and lifestyle brands. She contributes to several magazines and online blogs with her quirky illustrations and writing.