Meghan Petras
In her multidisciplinary practice, New York-based artist Meghan Petras uses a wide range of techniques and mediums, producing vibrant, tactile paintings, ceramic objects and wool rugs. Her work is infused with energy, movement and a sense of play. Informed by her background as a sculptor, Petras considers the materiality and spatiality of her paintings, thinking of them as objects rather than dimensionless portals. She primarily works in fabric paint, responding to the pigment’s ability to inhabit the fibers of the canvas, essentially becoming part of the surface. To build tension, she often deconstructs the canvas, cutting and sewing it back together in a network of intersecting planes that serve to disrupt emerging patterns and activate the surface of the painting.
While nature is a reoccurring theme in her work, Petras’ visual motifs vary widely. Since 2009, she’s been working on a series of rhythmic, pattern inspired paintings that incorporate the harmonious color schemes and repetitious imagery characteristic of textile design. Over time, her compositions have evolved from loosely figural to increasingly abstract. Fluid and gestural in nature, the works appear to be improvisational—emphasized by her use of cartoonish lines and shapes—and have a kinetic sensibility.
Petras has exhibited extensively in …
In her multidisciplinary practice, New York-based artist Meghan Petras uses a wide range of techniques and mediums, producing vibrant, tactile paintings, ceramic objects and wool rugs. Her work is infused with energy, movement and a sense of play. Informed by her background as a sculptor, Petras considers the materiality and spatiality of her paintings, thinking of them as objects rather than dimensionless portals. She primarily works in fabric paint, responding to the pigment’s ability to inhabit the fibers of the canvas, essentially becoming part of the surface. To build tension, she often deconstructs the canvas, cutting and sewing it back together in a network of intersecting planes that serve to disrupt emerging patterns and activate the surface of the painting.
While nature is a reoccurring theme in her work, Petras’ visual motifs vary widely. Since 2009, she’s been working on a series of rhythmic, pattern inspired paintings that incorporate the harmonious color schemes and repetitious imagery characteristic of textile design. Over time, her compositions have evolved from loosely figural to increasingly abstract. Fluid and gestural in nature, the works appear to be improvisational—emphasized by her use of cartoonish lines and shapes—and have a kinetic sensibility.
Petras has exhibited extensively in the US and abroad, including at Songzhuang Jincao Art Space, Beijing, Beacon Arts, Los Angeles, Dodge Gallery, Canada Gallery and Blackston Gallery, New York. Petras has been profiled in numerous print and online publications.
Courtesy of the Artist
