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Karen Woods
Our Station

2019

$2,700
£2,003.50
€2,333.81
CA$3,758.42
A$4,185.34
CHF 2,178.24
MX$51,604.73
NOK 27,741.52
SEK 26,074.34
DKK 17,413.11
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About the Item

“I do think the big problem in a way…is how you deal with ordinary life—that is not extraordinary, that does not involve heroism, that does not involve crises, really. But the way in we live is meaningful, and it does have a certain radiance.” - John Updike For some time now I have chronicled my journey by painting what I experience while driving around the city. I paint—in the realist tradition—from photographs taken at intersections and on the road, when I’ve been struck by the beauty in the ordinariness of my commute. These images are the “lyrical suggestions” that compel me to paint, to communicate these transcendent experiences so clearly that others might in turn recognize this beauty in the course of their day. For myself, the reward lies in capturing and expanding the space, time, and movement of a moment in everyday life, and to reveal its accompanying emotional weight: its anticipation, reflection, isolation, longing, and transcendence.
  • Creator:
  • Creation Year:
    2019
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 8 in (20.32 cm)Width: 16 in (40.64 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Fairfield, CT
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU18325148892

More From This Seller

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On the Way 1
By Karen Woods
Located in Fairfield, CT
Karen Woods paints a traveler’s view through the window of a moving vehicle rendered in subtly nuanced gestures in oil on canvas or panel. These views from the front seat of a car looking through an often rain-splattered windshield or side window, are always about water: water from above, as a rainstorm, or from below, as a man-made sprinkler system. She is drawn to the interplay of water and light, and how it affects our perception of reality through reflection, distortion, and transformation. The compositions often include a bit of the car - the edge of a window, a side mirror, the clear curved area left by a windshield wiper - these markers situate the viewer on the journey Woods is on - we are taken inside the vehicle and shown the vignettes that catch Woods’ eye. The paintings reclaim that point in time, explore its detail, and unearth its emotional content. Woods’ work freezes and compresses a moment of everyday life; then elongates and decelerates it and in so doing, reveals its accompanying emotional weight: its anticipation, reflection, isolation, and longing. Woods is coaxing us to recognize the transcendent experiences offered by the most mundane or ordinary surroundings of our daily lives. Karen Woods was born in Seattle, WA, in 1963. She received her BFA from the California College of the Arts (Oakland, CA) in 1987 with additional studies at California Polytechnic State University and Studio Art Centers International, Florence, Italy. Her paintings have been exhibited throughout the United States with solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, New York, and Boston, among others, and her work has been published in New American Paintings, American Art Collector, art ltd, Artweek, Western Art & Architecture, Fine Art Connoisseur, and the Idaho Statesmen. Woods’ paintings are included the public collections of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK, James Castle...
Category

2010s American Realist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

On the Way 2
By Karen Woods
Located in Fairfield, CT
Karen Woods paints a traveler’s view through the window of a moving vehicle rendered in subtly nuanced gestures in oil on canvas or panel. These views from the front seat of a car looking through an often rain-splattered windshield or side window, are always about water: water from above, as a rainstorm, or from below, as a man-made sprinkler system. She is drawn to the interplay of water and light, and how it affects our perception of reality through reflection, distortion, and transformation. The compositions often include a bit of the car - the edge of a window, a side mirror, the clear curved area left by a windshield wiper - these markers situate the viewer on the journey Woods is on - we are taken inside the vehicle and shown the vignettes that catch Woods’ eye. The paintings reclaim that point in time, explore its detail, and unearth its emotional content. Woods’ work freezes and compresses a moment of everyday life; then elongates and decelerates it and in so doing, reveals its accompanying emotional weight: its anticipation, reflection, isolation, and longing. Woods is coaxing us to recognize the transcendent experiences offered by the most mundane or ordinary surroundings of our daily lives. Karen Woods was born in Seattle, WA, in 1963. She received her BFA from the California College of the Arts (Oakland, CA) in 1987 with additional studies at California Polytechnic State University and Studio Art Centers International, Florence, Italy. Her paintings have been exhibited throughout the United States with solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, New York, and Boston, among others, and her work has been published in New American Paintings, American Art Collector, art ltd, Artweek, Western Art & Architecture, Fine Art Connoisseur, and the Idaho Statesmen. Woods’ paintings are included the public collections of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK, James Castle...
Category

2010s American Realist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Light and Dark
By Karen Woods
Located in Fairfield, CT
“I do think the big problem in a way…is how you deal with ordinary life—that is not extraordinary, that does not involve heroism, that does not involve crises, really. But the way in...
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Cruise #5
By Karen Woods
Located in Fairfield, CT
“I do think the big problem in a way…is how you deal with ordinary life—that is not extraordinary, that does not involve heroism, that does not involve crises, really. But the way in...
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Park
By Karen Woods
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA --“I do think the big problem in a way…is how you deal with ordinary life—that is not extraordinary, that does not involve heroism,...
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1st Avenue
By Karen Woods
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