Mallory Agerton (American, 20th century)

Artist's Statement

I grew up in a household of wildly creative relatives. I curled up with giant art books, relishing big color plates of paintings by Monet, Picasso and various Abstract Expressionists. The odor of turpentine in my aunt’s studio was better than the smell of baking chocolate, because it smelled of the creative act. Most of the important people in my life painted, designed jewelry or buildings. My grandmother was friends with Georgia O’Keefe.

Early on, I felt an intuitive connection with the visual language drawn from art, design, nature and years later, I earned a BFA in Studio Art, with an emphasis on abstract painting from the University of Texas. My training continued with workshops and later with rigorous years in a highly structured Atelier Program. The discipline required for lengthy assignments was welcome. For landscapes I adopted the method of drawing thumbnails, completing exacting graphite studies, and scaled color sketches before approaching the canvas. After several years however, I felt a longing for a freer, less academic method of working, and a desire to re-embrace my earlier love of abstract work.

These new paintings excite me. They are more intuitive, although the structure and discipline of my academic training still provides a subtle, underlying structure. If a bit of paint drips, I may let it stay. There is less control and more joy at the easel. I treasure this new exploration of vibrant pigments, and fewer rules. Recently in the studio, my hand held a bright cadmium red oil stick that sailed over my composition in a grand gesture. I wondered should I leave the gesture and mark? Expand it? Continue it? Eliminate part of it? I rotated the canvas so that it was upside down. Did all the shapes and lines look balanced together? I kept the red line. I was involved in a dialogue with the work itself, fully present in each moment, letting the work lead.

In this new work there is room for serendipity, improvisation, room to go off script. A random mark may be left untouched, and the unplanned brushstroke may bring a spontaneous beauty to each canvas. There is a fusion of passion and precision in each painting. With each abstract work I create a whole world on canvas that is fully resolved and filled with visual poetry.

Education

· 1976, University of Texas, Austin: BA, Fine Arts, Summa Cum Laude. Friar Society.

· 1976-78, The Art Students League, New York, NY: Post Graduate Studies with Robert Beverly Hale and David Leffel

· Workshops with Notable Artists: T. Allen Lawson, Deborah Paris, Douglas Fryer, Nancy Bush, Michael Workman, Matt Smith, Brian Blood, Skip Whitcomb, Greg Kreutz

· 2015, Graduate of The Landscape Atelier

Selected Exhibitions & Awards

· 2022, Oil Painters of America National Show, Steamboat Springs Museum, Colorado

· 2021, Best Painting Award, NOAPS Best of America National Juried Exhibition, Signature & Masters Division, Principle Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina

· 2021, The Texas Aesthetic XV, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2021, Contemporary Texas Landscapes, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2020, Best of America Show, NOAPS, Cutter & Cutter Gallery, St. Augustine, Florida

· 2020, 107th Allied Artist Juried Exhibition, New York City, New York

· 2020, The Texas Aesthetic Online, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2019, Merit Award, Best of America, NOAPS, Montgomery-Lee Fine Art, Park City, Utah

· 2019, Best of America Show, NOAPS, Merit Award, Park City, Utah

· 2019, Storied Lands, Contemporary Texas Landscape Painters, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2019, Spirit of Texas Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 2019, Best of America Small Works Show, Merit Award NOAP, Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, Texas

· 2018, Songs of Spring, Group Show, Hawthorne Fine Art, New York, New York

· 2018, NOAP Online International Show, Best Landscape Award, Online

· 2017, Summer Reading, Group Show, Hawthorne Fine Art, New York, New York

· 2017, Small Works, Great Wonders Show, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma

· 2016, Solo, Landscapes of the South, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art, Charleston, North Carolina

· 2016, American Women Artists at Work: Electrical in Movement, Hawthorne Fine Art, New York, New York

· 2016, Fall Online International Juried Show, National Oil & Acrylic Painters, Online

· 2016, Holiday Exhibition, Group show, Hawthorne Fine Art, New York, New York

· 2015, National Oil Painters of America International Exhibition, Online

· 2015, Best of America, National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society, Honorable Mention

· 2015, OPA Western Regional Juried Exhibition, Steamboat Springs, Colorado

· 2013, Annual Salon Exhibition, Gallery at Round Top, Texas

Professional Memberships

· Signature Member, National Oil & Acrylic Painters of America (NOAPS)

· Associate Member, Oil Painters of America (OPA)

Publications

· Southwest Art Feature, April/May 2022: https://www.southwestart.com/featured/agerton-m-apr2022

Mallory Agerton

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