In my ceramic paintings I explore how light illuminates the subtleties of color and surface. I press clay together, piece by piece, in a process of unfolding. Embracing the organic imperfections and poetic irregularities of clay, edges warp and sometimes crack. Oil paint sets the ceramic surfaces aglow in undulating fields of matte pigment.  Some forms are covered with luminous washes of subtle colors, lending them an ethereal atmosphere. Other surfaces contain a residue of rhythmic brush strokes in dense fields of monochrome. A shift in color occurs from the presence and direction of light, adding complexity to the forms. Illuminated and shadowed, their presence oscillates depending on the environment. Painted in daylight hours in layered compressions of time, each painting becomes a distillation of landscapes, evoking memories of color and qualities of light.

Marla Sweitzer (b. Sarasota, FL) is an artist based in Fresno, CA. She received her MFA from the University of Tennessee and a BA from Centre College. Recent solo exhibitions include Warping the Distances, Art Space Gallery (Fresno), Sight Lines, Housewright Gallery (Seattle) and ground matter, Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture (Knoxville). Recent group exhibitions include Innocent Pleasures Suit Me, Warbling Collective (London) and Promises, Jason McCoy Gallery (NYC). 

@marlasweitzer