1878 Gallery

November 18, 2023 - February 25, 2024

ArtWalk Reception
Saturday, November 25, 2023
6 – 9 PM
Artist talk at 6:30 PM

These exhibitions are supported in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Catherine Colangelo
Throwing Stars

Throwing Stars presents paintings in gouache and graphite on paper created by Catherine Colangelo over the past two years. The images are talismanic in nature, created to protect a loved one. Exhibiting a strong sense of flat and frontal design, the work serves to ward off evil spirits with its elaborate patterns, bright colors, and ever-watchful eyes.  In Colangelo’s new work, the energy of the paintings explodes outward, with sharp points pressing against the limits of the paper plane. They reference Japanese throwing stars, which, though small, can be deadly when used correctly. Colangelo’s intuitive approach to arranging pattern and color derives from a slow and meditative daily studio practice which allows her to tap into a more subconscious realm. The titles of the work, which include the date the piece was started, serve as a snapshot of the time they were created. Colangelo is interested in the uplifting power of color and the creative process during emotional periods in our lives, and how they can protect the intended recipient of the talisman, as well as the artist herself.

After earning a BFA in Painting from The Cooper Union in New York, Catherine Colangelo returned to Houston to pursue her art practice. She was one of five finalists for the 2017 Artadia Award – Houston, the recipient of 2011 and 2007 Individual Artist Grant Fellowships from the Houston Arts Alliance, and was a Hunting Prize finalist in 2014 and 2010. Catherine’s work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions and in the solo exhibitions Star Guardians at Koelsch Gallery (Houston), Force Field at Front Gallery (Houston), Everyday Sorcery and Talismanic at Cindy Lisica Gallery (Houston), Ocular Rhythms at McMurtrey Gallery (Houston), and Sea Change at Conduit Gallery (Dallas). Her work was selected by Rebecca Matalon, Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Claire C. Carter, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and Bill Arning, former director of the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, to be included in New American Paintings, West Issues #144, #126, and #102. Her work is also included in corporate collections including: Four Seasons Hotel (Abu Dhabi, UAE), Four Seasons Hotel (Houston), Rosewood Abu Dhabi Hotel (Abu Dhabi, UAE), Fidelity Investments (Boston), and Sidley Austin LLP (Houston).

catherinecolangelo.com