Kathleen Kucka: Strange Attractor

Heather Gaudio Fine Art is pleased to present Kathleen Kucka: Strange Attractor, her second solo exhibition at the gallery. The show will present newly-created paintings and works on paper and will be on view June 15th– July 22nd, 2023.  The public is invited to attend an opening reception for the artist on Thursday June 15th, 5-7pm.

Throughout her career, Kucka has pushed the boundaries of traditional painting, experimenting with unconventional techniques to create works that blur the line between two and three-dimensional art. Utilizing a variety of methods including burning or pouring paint, she creates works that focus on materiality and examines the interplay between physical and visual aspects of her chosen medium.

Executed in the last three years, the works in this exhibition are borne out of the time Kucka consistently spent outside New York City. Working in her studio in northwest Connecticut, a new visual language began to emerge in her paintings, with circular and sacred geometries taking hold of the compositions. Inspired by infinite dark nights, planet gazing, fractals and endlessly expanding geometry, Kucka often employs circular patterns with a nod to quilts and geometric abstraction. 

In the current body of work, Kucka’s technique has expanded to using an electric burning tool to scorch the surface of the canvas, manipulating the flame to make lines that intersect and build a grid network as a primary layer. On top of the scorched surface, her signature circle patterns are drawn and painted. The burn grid showing through creates a depth of field and atmosphere that emphasizes the visual dynamics of the canvas. 

Kucka’s paintings are two-dimensional images that show areas and portals that are illusions to a deeper space and reflect an optical and surface-oriented sensibility. The elemental language of circles brings to mind an eternal rotation and the infinite structure of life and speaks to the transformative power of destruction and creation. 

Kucka has been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions including a 20-year survey at Indiana University. Her work is in several collections including MoMA; The Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; The Birmingham Museum of Art; the Weatherspoon Art Museum in North Carolina; and the Borusan Contemporary in Istanbul.  

Heather Gaudio Fine Art specializes in emerging and established artists, offering painting, works on paper, photography, and sculpture. The gallery provides a full range of art advisory services, from forming and maintaining a collection, to securing secondary market material, to assisting with framing and installation. The focus is on each individual client, selecting art that best serves his or her vision, space, and resources. The six exhibitions offered every year are designed to present important talent and provide artwork appealing to a broad range of interests. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30am to 5:30pm, and by appointment.