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Holly Johnson Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Anna Bogatin: New Paintings. A reception for the artist will be held Saturday, May 14, from 5 to 8 pm. The exhibition will continue through July 30.

According to Peter Frank, "Anna Bogatin's intimate minimalism evinces its lineage at once. It is wrought from the same cloth as the work of Agnes Martin, Edda Renouf, and Richard Tuttle. Bogatin is not simply unafraid to recover meditative ground trod by predecessors; she is driven to do so, through some of the same impulses and insights that prompted them. The rhythm is insistent but not mechanistic, its slight 'breath' cleaving our attention not simply to the nature of repeated unit, but to the shape of the composition the units comprise. Even though she paints without regard to the production of objects per se, accepting only the facture of her materials and methods, Bogatin's approach yields objects rather than pictures, palpable souvenirs of inner journeys rather than renditions of exterior fact." 

Bogatin is inspired by the meditative aspects of Buddhism, connecting with nature, and finding the right state of mind in which to create her work. She seeks to create works that explore the understanding and pursuit of happiness in contemporary society. She also takes inspiration from Australian Aboriginal art, which encompasses themes of wandering and becoming connected with one's homeland. Using photography and memories as reference material, the new works are painted traditionally by hand from precise digital studies - bringing into focus a balancing of high tech and high touch.

Bogatin was born in the former Soviet Union, Ukraine (1970). She lived in Russia, the Republic of Georgia, Ukraine and Poland prior to coming to the U.S (1992). She received her BFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia (2002), and her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute (2006). Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout the U.S. and abroad and is also included in important private and corporate collections, including PD-LD Ink, Pennington, NJ, Coventry, Philadelphia PA, and Jones Day Law Firm, Dallas, TX. Bogatin currently lives and works in Pennsylvania.

A catalogue with an essay by Los Angeles-based art critic, Peter Frank, is available.