Jody Uttal’s current series of watercolors, Concurrences, is inspired in part by early 20th Century Finnish textiles and the woven works of Bauhaus artist Anni Albers, as well Agnes Martin’s drawings.
Each piece begins with a freehand painted grid, usually of a single color. In a process Uttal describes as both meditative and obsessive, sections of the painting unfold to her, square by square, over several weeks.
Uttal has long worked in watercolor, a medium she is drawn to for it’s immediacy and transparency. She sees herself as engaging in a dialog with the paint, which can be temperamental and unforgiving. “Watercolor has a life of its own” she comments. “At its best, it has a lightness and immediacy that can’t be achieved with any other medium, and every brushstroke is different. But you can’t completely control it; it can be temperamental and unforgiving, and sometimes you have to put a painting aside and move on”.
Jody Uttal studied fine art and painting at Cornell University, from which she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She continued her studies at the New York Studio School and New York’s School of Visual Arts.
Her book of watercolor paintings and spiritual texts, Painted Prayers, was awarded the prestigious Nautilus Award honoring “distinguished literary contribution to conscious living and positive social change”.
Uttal's work has been exhibited at galleries in Los Angeles and New York. She resides in Los Angeles.