Erika b Hess
Biography
Erika b Hess is a painter, curator, host of the art podcast I Like Your Work, and Artistic Director of Visual Arts at Chautauqua Instituion. Hess’s work has been exhibited nationally including in NYC, Brooklyn, Detroit, L.A., Boston, and Philadelphia. Recent solo exhibitions include Marietta College (Marietta, OH) and MUSA Collective (Boston, MA). Recent group exhibitions include Contemporary Art Matters (NYC, Columbus, and Artsy) BHG Gallery (Canada), Co-Worker Gallery (Toledo, OH), and The Yard (Brooklyn, NYC).
She has been featured in various publications, including Boston University CFA Alumni Magazine, Art New England, ArtScope, AllSHEMakes, and Visionary Art Magazine. Hess has curated and juried exhibitions, publications, and awards, including Create Magazine, Friend of the Artist, Cambridge Art Association (Cambridge, MA), Gallery 263 (Cambridge, MA) AllSheMakes, Arts to Hearts, Riffe Gallery (Columbus, OH), and she has served on panels at SCOPE (Miami), Cleveland Institute of Art, and Boston University and frequently lectures at colleges such as Wellesley University, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Missouri State University, Eastern Michigan University, and many others.
Hess maintains an active studio practice in Columbus, OH, and in Long Island City in New York, where she keeps a selected inventory of work. She is represented by Contemporary Art Matters in Columbus, OH.
Hess received her MFA from Boston University.
Artist Statement
My work communicates emotions and experiences through the vibrant language of color, anchoring itself in the recurring motif of puddles. Puddles, akin to emotions and experiences, are fleeting pools of water that transiently mirror their surroundings. They materialize with the rain and vanish just as swiftly, paralleling the impermanence of human encounters. Puddles also serve as metaphors for our past and future, then tend to form in the exact location, etching deeper impressions much like our experiences resonate within our psyche.
In the realm of Jungian psychology, water symbolizes the subconscious—a domain where the surface often conceals hidden depths. I draw inspiration from Jung's assertion that "Water means spirit that has become unconscious." My art delves into this uncharted spirit, abstractly painting the water's surface to evoke movement while hinting at the enigmatic depths beneath.
Encompassing these puddles is what I term "The Wilderness," a realm teeming with intense and multifaceted experiences. This wilderness may embody danger, the pursuit of spiritual transcendence, renewal, or a place of introspection. It's within the interplay between the puddle's form and the wilderness that the emotions and tension I aim to convey take root.
Click the link below to download Erika's CV.