roots petals streams

Natalie Petrosky

March 22 - May 4

Closing Reception: May 3, 12 - 2 PM

Artist Statement:

My occupation as a gardener is influencing my work, during which I am engaged in the meditative process of collecting sticks, rocks, and leaves. The little bits of fabric I collect and compose to form pictorial spaces is a similar process. I use the imagery of windows and fences in my paintings as frames for overgrown plants escaping and reclaiming their environments. Elements that comprise a natural environment can be combined into something greater than their parts. They contain lives and possibilities and their appreciation depends on the empty space between them. The negative space in my paintings gives the impression of a mosaic or stained glass windows but also of a forest canopy, the shattering of rocks, and the magical intermixing of all of nature’s elements. My work contains Rorschach-like compositions that suggest nature’s symmetries, geometry, mysteries, subtle irregularities, frayed edges, and unexpected mutations. I organize floral compositions that exist in conversation with their environments and not in precious bud vases. The gates and manmade structures that appear attempt to enclose, protect, and contain nature. These are ultimately futile attempts at preserving plants, gardens, and ourselves from the ravages of time, predators, and other forces of the natural world. 

Bio:

Natalie Petrosky (b.1989, Akron, OH) is an artist living and working in Cleveland, OH. She received her MFA in Painting & Drawing at the University of Tennessee (2016) and her BFA in Painting with an Honors Thesis in Glass from the School of Art at Kent State University in Kent, OH (2012). She is currently teaching part-time at Kent State University in Kent, OH and works as a gardener in the summers. Petrosky makes primarily paintings and drawings, as well as sculptures, videos, and glass. Natalie recently had a solo show close at Columbia College in Columbia, SC. Her most recent notable exhibitions include: Laughing Through Your Window, Curve Line Space, Los Angeles, CA (2024); sticks, rocks, leaves, Kent State Downtown Gallery, Kent, OH (2024); Wild Bunch, Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA (2023); The Regional, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO (2022); Watching the Seasons Change, Museum of the White Mountains, Plymouth, NH (2022); The Regional, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH (2021); Something About Windows (solo), The Suburban, Milwaukee, WI (2020); VIRTUAL MICROCINEMA, RhizomeDC, Washington, DC (2020); and Over the Structures, CICA Museum, Gimpo, South Korea (2020).