Ann Craven

Ann Craven is known for her serial, diaristic paintings that emerge from a desire to savor “the prospect of the infinite over the sanctity of the original.” She worked as an assistant to Alex Katz between 1992 and 1998, and his influence is clear in her strong application of paint and the monumentality of her brushstrokes. Craven pulls images from books and the Internet, but often works from life in her studio in Maine. She has focused on nocturnal observations of the moon for nearly twenty years, exploring the way in which the ceaseless subject transforms in reaction to weather, repetition, and mood. These works, of which she may paint ten in an evening, often inspire larger works. Craven’s interest in “transference of lived experience” enables her to find use for nearly everything her paint touches: her painting palates are often converted into artworks and left-over paint transforms into her series of Stripe paintings. By taking ownership of her constantly shifting experience, the artist maintains an affection for her subjects and relays her observations in a manner that is authentic.

Craven has exhibited at institutions including Sculpture Center, New York, Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington, Delaware, The Dairy Art Center, London, Cluj Museum, Romania, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Artists Space, New York, The Kitchen, New York, Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, and New Museum, New York, among others. She participated in the Prague Biennale in 2011, and regularly shows in art fairs including Art Basel and Scope in Miami Beach, and the Guadalajara Art Fair. In 1997 she was awarded the Rosenthal Foundation Young Painter Prize, and in 2002 she was honored as the Best Monographic Show in a Commercial Gallery by the International Association of Art Critics. Since then she has been awarded a number of residencies, guest lecture positions, and awards.