Bethany Czarnecki

b. 1980; Westwood, NJ

Bethany Czarnecki creates abstract paintings that project an atmospheric sense of place while exploring the paradoxes and complexities of the female form and its representation. Her swirling compositions investigate themes of gender, identity, the human psyche and sensuality. Working slowly with oil paint, Czarnecki carves out multiple layers of concentric, biomorphic shapes that radiate chromatic planes. Ranging from opaque color fields to translucent overlays, nested silhouettes bend and bloom as they foster complex relationships within each composition. The artist's use of repetitive forms signifies a distortion of time and place that allude to dreamscapes, while color becomes a carrier of emotion that ultimately reveals the unseen.

 

 

 Bethany Czarnecki graduated with a BA in Sociology from Barnard College, Columbia University in 2003. Her work was included in Push and Pull, a group exhibition at Andrew Reed (2024; Miami, FL), Immersed, a group exhibition curated by Jack Siebert (2023; Los Angeles, CA), a solo viewing room presentation at Night Gallery (2022; Los Angeles, CA) , a group exhibition at BOZO MAG (2022; Los Angeles, CA) and a group exhibition at Core Club (2022; New York, NY), curated by Natasha Schlesinger and Christine Mack. Her work has previously been exhibited nationally at galleries and museums, including the Katonah Museum of Art (Katonah, NY), Hollis Taggart (Southport, CT), and the Westport Art Center (Westport, CT), to name a few. Czarnecki has spoken on a number of artist panels, notably alongside Joe Amrhein and Susan Swenson of Pierogi Gallery at the Westport Art Center (2018) and with Columbia University Arts Access at Massey Klein Gallery (2020).

 

Czarnecki has been featured in New American Paintings, Northeast, Issue #164 (2023), selected by juror Leile Grothe of The Baltimore Museum of Art. The artist has additionally appeared in numerous print and online publications, including HypeBeast, Artillery, ArtPlugged, Metal Magazine, Widewalls, Elephant (where she was featured as October 2021’s ‘artist to watch’), Two Coats of Paint, and ArtZealous, among others. Her work resides in the permanent collections of Capital One Bank and Citizens Bank, in addition to several noteworthy private collections.