January 19 - February 10, 2024
High Profile | Ariana Vaeth

Artist Talk with Ariana Vaeth - February 10 at 2 PM

Artist Statement 
Painterly images emphasize the boundaries that delineate where safety thrives, these contexts highlighting an activity or person of interest: we gaze at them as they engage in more pressing matters.
Through selective cropping, hiding faces, and utilizing the silhouetted profile to spotlight the focus of the subject's attention, I underline their social ponderings and tendings while maintaining a vital semblance of their privacy. This flattening directs viewers to investigate the subject's space, and by limiting the audience's intrusion, I aim to encourage the experience of curiosity and wonder.
Swatches of color fix walls and floors, fleshing-out foundations while negative space helps loved ones navigate their personal barriers.
Oil paints and pastels allow a lasting presence, but also incentivize the narrative to pivot mid-creation; what started as a close-up may cascade into an exploration of being, assembled from dynamics posed in reproduced environments.
Through my work, I hope to accentuate the admiration I have for the people who inform my character, celebrating the generosity of those I am privileged to know in carefully composed pigment.
High Profile shares scenes depicting me with my closest friends and family, the chemistry of these relationships front and center.

Artist Bio

Ariana Vaeth is a Baltimore-raised artist living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She received her undergraduate degree from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Her museum history includes solo exhibitions in Door County, Wisconsin at the Miller Art Museum and in Milwaukee at the Lynden and the Haggerty Museums of Art. 


Vaeth is a 2017 Mary Nohl Fellow in the Emerging Artist category. She is a recipient of the Gener8tor.Art creative entrepreneurial grant. Vaeth received a 2020 Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Award. Her work was represented by Ayzha Fine Art Gallery and Pigment International at EXPO Chicago in April 2022. Her work will be featured in the newest edition of New American Painting - Midwest.


Her next solo exhibition will be at Eutaw Place in Baltimore, Maryland this coming May. Vaeth’s most recent educational endeavors include a year-long mentor role for Milwaukee Artist Resource Network Mentorship Program paired with interdisciplinary artist Alison Westbrook, working as an adjunct professor at Beloit College, and leading workshops at her residency at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin for the month of October.
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She recently completed a residency aboard a ship (via Adrift Project) off the US East Coast with sculptor (and captain) Michael Fadel.

Inventory

Lil’ Chef
Oil on canvas
12" x 16"

Special Effects
Oil on canvas
16" x 12"

Love is Blind
Oil on canvas
16" x 22"

Shared Bedroom
Oil on canvas
30" x 40"

Leo towards Morris
Oil pastel on paper
10" x 15"
SOLD
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Mrs. Kwanza’s Closet
Oil pastel on paper
​10" x 15"

Concaving Inn
Oil pastel on paper
11" x 14"

We eatin’ Hell yeah
Oil pastel on paper
8" x 10"

Faces North, Heads South
Oil on canvas
12" x 12"

(teddy) Bear Witness
Acrylic on canvas
20" x 16"

Accolades of Mrs. Kwanza’s Closet
Oil pastel on paper
17" x 14"

Lil’ Handy
Oil on panel
18" x 24"

Early
Oil pastel on paper
17" x 14"