Austin Way Magazine - GreenGale Publishing - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/881258
A fter life in New York and L A, artist Claire Oswalt found herself "disillusioned" with the art world and desperate for what neither cosmopolis could provide: space and time. Intrinsically, she returned to her hometown of Austin, finding room to grow for her family and her work. "I didn't want the pressure of judgment and waiting for the next thing to happen," says Oswalt, who has a huge West Coast following thanks to her work in businesses such as Irene Neuwirth's Melrose Place boutique and Beverly Hills' Café Gratitude. Hotels in A msterdam and Saint- Raphaël, France, recently installed her collages. "When I have empty space, I get to create from a really natural place," says the artist. In her Deep Eddy studio at the Charles Moore Foundation compound, Oswalt creates minimal collages, composed of her atmospheric watercolor scraps, wit h orga nic f luidit y. It's a ba la nce of spont a neou s plac ement a nd subsequent refinement. "I don't go into any work with a form in mind," she adds. "It's more that I allow a form to develop. It has its own inherent meaning without me assigning it." Her current exhibition, a selection of 26 intimate works entitled From the Mother, opened in September at the Johanssen Gallery in Berlin and expands on this desire to receive form rather than give it. "It's pulling out those specific moments that were made on a whim with no intention." Internationally known artist Claire Oswalt finds the breathing room she needs in her hometown of Austin. By Hannah Morrow // Photography by Jackie Lee Young Clockwise from top: Artist Claire Oswalt rents a 600-square- foot secluded studio on the edge of the Charles Moore Foundation compound, which was the last home and studio of the acclaimed late architect; watercolors are an essential part of Oswalt's work: She will tear up her paintings and then turn the scraps into collages; the artist at work; Oswalt began doing watercolor collages after a commission to provide drawings for all of the guest rooms at the Line Hotel in Los Angeles. Now her collages are in hotels around the world. SPACE CREATIVE "When I have empt y space, I get to create from a really natural place." –CLAIRE OSWALT S O C I E T Y & C U L T U R E a r t 4 0 A U S T I N W A Y L A T E F A L L 2 0 1 7 | M O D E R N L U X U R Y . C O M