ARTIST STATEMENT
I am interested in disassembling our assumptions about the world, our bodies, the spaces we inhabit, and the stories we tell ourselves. When scrutinized, our knowledge falls apart, and we are left with a naked mash of experiences, surfaces, sensations, and narratives. It is both scary and liberating, as new meanings and undercurrents emerge, and new, simpler relationships materialize. My paintings and drawings exist in that space of trying to re-understand. Elements in the work encroach on and obscure each other, creating an ambiguity which allows the images to escape the confines of certainty and language, and exist more namelessly, in a state of multiplicity.
In 2022 my husband and I decided to embark on the journey of having our first baby. Getting to know my body in this new form, as capable of nurturing and growing new life, was fascinating to me. I found myself scrutinizing and experiencing body parts both interior and exterior, as I never have before, and made paintings and drawings that attempt to capture these sensations, and explore this newfound intimacy and corporeal knowledge.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Anya Kotler was born in Odessa, Ukraine, grew up in Jerusalem, Israel and studied painting at the New York Academy of Art. She has shown in solo and group shows in the US and China, and teaches courses around the US and in Ireland. Most recently her work was included in exhibitions at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art (CT), Pen and Brush Gallery (NYC), Silvermine Gallery (CT), and a solo exhibition at Rosenberg Gallery, Hofstra University (NY). Her work was featured/reviewed in New American Paintings, ArtMaze Magazine, New Haven Independent, and Friend of the Artist. Anya is a recipient of the NJ State Council on the Arts Fellowship, and twice the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant. She lives with her husband, daughter and two cats, and builds sculptural paintings and drawings at her studio in Hoboken, NJ.
© Anya Kotler