Natalie Westbrook Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
Plant life has an uncanny relationship to the human body. Its unrelenting growth and mutable potential inspires a breed of vivacity and fecundity I want to evoke through paint. In the primordial pool, genes bump into genes, join together and mutate. My work focuses on the kinships and volatilities of disparate organic life, filtered through psychological expression. In these painterly meditations on natural cycles and mortality, the gravity of such serious contemplation gives way to absurdity and strangeness when we see ourselves mirrored and transformed in nature. Double entendre and rebus-like figural arrangements are expressed through paint, emphasizing a mutability of forms. The real and the ridiculous intermingle in a re-imaged universe where fear and desire are not mutually exclusive.
Plant life has an uncanny relationship to the human body. Its unrelenting growth and mutable potential inspires a breed of vivacity and fecundity I want to evoke through paint. In the primordial pool, genes bump into genes, join together and mutate. My work focuses on the kinships and volatilities of disparate organic life, filtered through psychological expression. In these painterly meditations on natural cycles and mortality, the gravity of such serious contemplation gives way to absurdity and strangeness when we see ourselves mirrored and transformed in nature. Double entendre and rebus-like figural arrangements are expressed through paint, emphasizing a mutability of forms. The real and the ridiculous intermingle in a re-imaged universe where fear and desire are not mutually exclusive.
CV
Natalie Westbrook
natalie.westbrook@gmail.com
b. 1980 Louisville, KY
EDUCATION
2010 MFA, Painting, Yale University
2004 MA, Critical and Curatorial Studies, University of Louisville
2002 BFA, Cooper Union School of Art
EXHIBITIONS
2010 MFA Thesis, 1156 Chapel Street Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2009 Peering Into The Future, 1156 Chapel Street Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2004 Made Beliefs, Artswatch, Louisville, KY
2002 BFA Exhibition, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY
AWARDS
2010 Carol Schlosberg Memorial Prize for excellence in painting, Yale University
2009 Robert Schoelkopf Memorial Traveling Prize, Yale University
2006 Soaring Gardens Artist’s Residency, Ora Lerman Trust Award, PA
2005 Cooper Union Summer Artist Residency, New York, NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2009 “Prana, pure solid and true” ROJO Magazine, Barcelona, Spain, June Issue
2008 “Natalie Westbrook” beautifuldecay.com, July 29
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2009 Infinitesimal Eternity: Images Made in the Face of Spectacle, co-curator, Edgewood Gallery, New Haven CT
2004 Documents, Monuments, Potential Investments: work by NY artist Charles Shedden, Gallery X, Louisville, KY
Natalie Westbrook
natalie.westbrook@gmail.com
b. 1980 Louisville, KY
EDUCATION
2010 MFA, Painting, Yale University
2004 MA, Critical and Curatorial Studies, University of Louisville
2002 BFA, Cooper Union School of Art
EXHIBITIONS
2010 MFA Thesis, 1156 Chapel Street Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2009 Peering Into The Future, 1156 Chapel Street Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2004 Made Beliefs, Artswatch, Louisville, KY
2002 BFA Exhibition, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY
AWARDS
2010 Carol Schlosberg Memorial Prize for excellence in painting, Yale University
2009 Robert Schoelkopf Memorial Traveling Prize, Yale University
2006 Soaring Gardens Artist’s Residency, Ora Lerman Trust Award, PA
2005 Cooper Union Summer Artist Residency, New York, NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2009 “Prana, pure solid and true” ROJO Magazine, Barcelona, Spain, June Issue
2008 “Natalie Westbrook” beautifuldecay.com, July 29
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2009 Infinitesimal Eternity: Images Made in the Face of Spectacle, co-curator, Edgewood Gallery, New Haven CT
2004 Documents, Monuments, Potential Investments: work by NY artist Charles Shedden, Gallery X, Louisville, KY
Untitled. 2010. Oil and Acrylic on Canvas. 72 x 96 inches.
Untitled. 2010. Oil on Canvas. 72 x 60 inches.
Untitled. 2010. Oil on Canvas. 72 x 60 inches.
Untitled. 2010. Oil, Acrylic and Foam on Canvas. 60 x 72 inches.
Untitled. 2010. Oil on Canvas. 72 x 60 inches.
Untitled. 2010. Oil on Canvas. 84 x 96 inches.
Untitled. 2010. Oil on Canvas. 16 x 20 inches.
Untitled. 2010. Oil on Canvas. 8 x 10 inches.
Untitled. 2010. Oil on Canvas. 18 x 24 inches.
Untitled. 2010. Oil on Canvas. 14 x 11 inches.
Untitled. 2010. Oil on Canvas. 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled. 2009. Oil on Canvas. 14 x 18 inches.
Untitled. 2009. Oil on Canvas. 60 x 50 inches.
Untitled. 2009. Oil on Canvas. 70 x 56 inches.
Untitled. 2009. Oil on Canvas. 96 x 144 inches.
Untitled (detail). 2009. Oil on Canvas. 96 x 144 inches.
Untitled. 2009. Oil on Canvas. 65 x 42 inches.
Untitled. 2009. Oil on Canvas. 72 x 96 inches.
Untitled. 2009. Oil on Canvas. 54 x 36 inches.
Untitled. 2009. Oil on Canvas. 54 x 36 inches.