Andrea Kowch

Mysterious Realms

Inspired by memories, inner emotions, history, and a fascination with nature and the human psyche, the stories behind Andrea Kowch’s figurative realist paintings stem from life’s emotions and experiences, resulting in narrative, allegorical imagery that illustrates the parallels between human experience and the mysteries of the natural world.

The lonely, desolate American landscape encompassing the paintings’ subjects serves as an exploration of nature’s sacredness and a reflection of the human soul, symbolizing all things powerful, fragile, and eternal. These real, yet dreamlike, scenarios serve as metaphors for the human condition, all retaining a sense of vagueness, involving and motivating the viewer in uncovering the various layers of mood and meaning to form conclusions from their own perspective, despite the main idea that will always be before them.

We all share a common thread, and as active participants in an ever-changing modern world, the purpose of Kowch’s work is to remind viewers of these places that we sometimes perceive no longer exist, and to recognize and honor them as a part of our history that is worth preserving.

In juxtaposing the human form with animals and a bygone uninhibited American landscape, Kowch’s work provides glimpses into “rooms,” those oftentimes chaotic places we possess internally. The rural, Midwestern landscape of her home state serves as backdrop for the stage of human emotions. The animals present are vehicles for expressing the feelings and underlying tensions suppressed behind the human mask. Symbolic explorations of the soul and events concerning our environment are expressed through the combination of these elements to transform personal ideas into universal metaphors.

EXHIBITION DETAILS

Andrea Kowch: Mysterious Realms

January 17 – April 9, 2023

Museum of Art – DeLand  |  Downtown Gallery

100 N. Woodland Blvd. DeLand, Florida 32720

Admission: Members Free  |  Non-Members $10

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Andrea Kowch’s highly acclaimed paintings garner multiple Best of Show awards in juried exhibitions of national and international caliber, and she exhibits full-time in solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries across the globe, including RJD Gallery, London and Rome’s Dorothy Circus Gallery, the Muskegon Museum of Art (where her solo retrospective Dream Fields debuted in 2013), the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville, the Grand Rapids Art Museum, ArtPrize, Art Basel Miami, the Los Angeles Art Show, ArtHamptons, and SCOPE NYC, who, in 2012, named Kowch one of the top 100 emerging artists in the world.

She is regularly featured in and on the front covers of several national and international publications. Kowch’s works can be found in both public and museum collections, such as the R.W. Norton Art Gallery Museum of the R.W. Norton Art Foundation, Muskegon Museum of Art, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Northbrook Library in Northbrook, Illinois, and in significant private collections worldwide. Kowch resides and works in Michigan and is represented exclusively by RJD Gallery.

Image: Andrea Kowch, The Feast, 2010, Acrylic on Canvas, 60 x 84 in., Collection of Richard J. Demato