GRETA WALLER
GRETA WALLER
AMERICAN DREAM / SUEÑO AMERICANO
TAYLOE PIGGOTT GALLERY
30 SEPTEMBER — 30 OCTOBER 2022
AMERICAN DREAM / SUEÑO AMERICANO
Inspired by the people and the incredible light of the rural Mexican landscape, these works tell the story of Greta Waller’s extended family in Zacatecas. Waller is driven by her passion for exploring and understanding the nature of light and color.
she says. “This landscape is unbelievable. There are so many different catalysts for light…” Nopales cacti, clothes drying on the line, a simple residence lit as though from within—a lyrical narrative unfolds in oil paint.
"I’m not romanticizing it at all; this is truly a painter’s dream, this part of Mexico. This landscape is unbelievable. There are so many different catalysts for light…"
From her eye-bending oils of ice blocks and still life studies to avalanche paintings created following a life-changing trip to Antarctica, Waller employs her subject matter to serve as vehicles through which she studies light’s fleeting and variable properties. The Mexican desert proves fruitful ground. “I’m not romanticizing it at all; this is truly a painter’s dream, this part of Mexico,”
But mainly, she says, it is the people who bring the landscape alive for her. Waller was born in Indianapolis and her lifelong drive to paint landed her at Cooper Union (BFA) and UCLA (MFA). Along the way, she met, married and had three young boys with a Hispanic-American man originally from Zacatecas. They built a life together in Indianapolis, what Waller describes as “our version of the American dream.” Despite their eventual divorce and estrangement, she wanted her children to know their father’s family and understand their multicultural roots. The family and rural community opened their arms to her, a white woman from the American Midwest, and her boys, attempting to reframe their American Dream. That of an outsider looking in
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is a theme running through Waller’s paintings from early on in here career. Here, however, there is an intimate knowledge conveyed that speaks to family, of being one with a culture. “My love for this place and the love of these people is these paintings,” the artist says.
love across cultures, an American woman’s heartache and eventual healing found in the love of a community.
"My love for this place and the love of these people is these paintings. That openness I received from them allowed me to transport myself, and allowed me to sink in [to the landscape]… just to sit there in the desert and see."
“That openness I received from them allowed me to transport myself, and allowed me to sink in [to the landscape]… just to sit there in the desert and see.” This selection of paintings makes a profound statement about life and
Born in 1983 in Indianapolis, Indiana, Waller earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cooper Union in 2006. She continued her studies at the University of Los Angeles, CA, and received her Master of Fine Arts in 2011. Waller has participated in several select summer and exchange programs, including the Chelsea College of Arts and Slade School of Fine Art in London, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and the New York Academy of Art in Manhattan. In 2017, Waller was invited to participate in the Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts at The American Academy of Arts and Letters, from which the Academy chose her as an Art Award winner. Greta Waller lives and works in Los Angeles with her three sons.
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Oil
RANCHO (THE RANCH) ,
EL
2022
on canvas 48 x 60 inches 4
NOPALES , 2022
Oil on linaen
12 x 14 incahes
6
EL MONTE , 2020 Oil on linen 59 x 84 inches 8
AMERICAN DREAM (SUENO AERICANO ) , 2019
Oil on linen
84 x 177 inches (triptych)
10
TIRED (SUENO) , 2012
Oil on linen
24 x 20 inches
12
LA CASA (HOME) , 2022
Oil on linen
30 x 40 inches
14
THE FUNERAL OF TIA SEBERA , 2022
Oil on linen
19 x 24 inches
16
INGLESIA DE ESPIRITU SANTO , 2022
Oil on linen
24 x 18 inches
18 LA
MANOS NEGRAS (BLACK HANDS) , 2002
Oil on linen
58 1/2 x 72 inches
20
Oil on canvas
60 x 72 inches
EL RODEO , 2003
22
LOS ARQUITOS (THE ARROWS) , 2022
Oil on canvas
60 x 48 inches
24
CORRAL , 2022
Oil on canvas
x 60 inches
26 EL
48
, 2022
Oil on linen
19 x 24 inches
EL LAUNDRY
28
PANTALONES (PANTS) , 2022
Oil on linen
19 x 24 inches
30
TORTILLAS DE HARINA (FLOUR TORTILLAS) , 2022
Oil on linen
19 x 24 inches
32
LAS BORREGAS (THE SHEEP) , 2022
Oil on linen
19 x 24 inches
34
SPINED HEART , 2021
Oil on linen
19 x 24 inches
36
TOPAN (REGIONAL NAME FOR THIS CACTUS) , 2022
Oil on linen
19 x 24 inches
38
DONKEY AND DOUBLESTROLLER (BURRO Y CARRIOLA) , 2022
Oil on linen
19 x 24 inches
40
(THE
Oil on linen
x 20 inches
EL CORAZON
HEART) , 2021
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GRETA WALLER
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1983
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2022 “American Dream”, Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson Hole, WY
2019 “Greta Waller”, Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson Hole, WY
2016 “Greta Waller Recent Paintings”, Del Deo and Barzune Gallery, New York City, NY
2012 "Greta Waller: In the Closet", Michael Maloney Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2011 LA: Art Platform, Los Angeles, CA
2010 "Greta Waller: It’s All Relative", Gensler Design Gallery, New York City, NY
2010 "Greta Waller: Ice Paintings", Maloney Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
This catalog compliments Waller's Exhibition AMERICAN DREAM / SUEÑO AMERICANO
30 SEPT - 30 OCT 2022 | Tayloe Piggott Gallery | © 2022 All Rights Reserved
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