SÉJour en couleur
Molly Knobloch + Amanda Witucki
June 14 - July 16, 2021
Molly Knobloch
ABout the Artist
Molly Knobloch is a painter based in Austin, TX. She grew up in Boston, MA, surrounded by the arts in various forms and somehow still entered college thinking she was a business major. Then she took her first painting class. She’s been painting ever since, and has taken her practice from New Orleans to France and finally to sunny Austin. Now she lives in South Austin and makes art in her studio at ContraCommon in Bee Cave, TX. She’s also a lover of long walks with her dog Zuko, nomming on vegan nachos (ask her where the best in town are), visiting local galleries, watching boatloads of reality tv, and hitting local watering holes whenever possible.
“My studio practice is about honesty. I enter into a painting without a plan, preparation, or expectation, and I allow the ideas to flow. It’s a process of intuitive action and reaction to color, stroke, and composition. I come back to a similar process most studio sessions: a watery underpainting, an oscillation between paint, oil pastel, and pencil, a feverish pace that always seems to help and hurt in equal measure. But the actions and choices that come from that process can’t be anticipated.
Every piece is the product of each minute spent on it and all of the emotions, whims, and experiments I indulge in during that time. It’s both a snapshot of a moment in time and a story of my thoughts during that moment. It has a beginning, middle, and end that unfold the longer you look on. It can’t be anything that it isn’t, it exposes every part of me, and often it’s more than I ever intended. There is no illusion here, no pretension, no studied map, just mark after exploring mark until the undefinable, honest finish.”
Amanda Witucki
ABout the Artist
Amanda Witucki is a self-taught artist living in Austin who has been creating consistent bodies of work for the past two years. Her focus is paper sculpture and origami. She graduated in 2010 with a BA in Psychology with a minor in French from the University of Kansas. You can find her work around Austin at Art for the People Gallery and ArtUs Co. She has participated in several group shows, most recently at Pink the Pop Up and the East Austin Studio Tour. This is her first major showcase.
“I’ve been a creator my whole life, but found my voice through paper as a medium. I love how approachable this medium is. It’s inexpensive, easy to manipulate, but with the right skill can create truly intricate and massive design. My work plays heavily on color, texture, and repetition. I think some of the most impressive art can be created from simple objects/techniques but multiplied hundredfold. I have a background in design, so I’m always looking to create larger installations that can transform a space and envelope the viewer.
As a kid I was fascinated by origami, but found it impossibly difficult and quickly gave up. Now, my focus is primarily with origami. Using one specific folded shape, I’ve created works on canvas, large installations, decorative garlands and hanging decor. Origami is simple, but requires intense precision to really master it. I’ve recently started introducing new origami shapes into my work, and I look forward to expanding these concepts.”
