Karla Wozniak's paintings exist on the edge of representation and abstraction, creating a visual world that suggests a kind of synesthetic experience. Wozniak received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from the Yale School of Art. She has shown internationally, with solo shows at such venues as GGLA in Los Angeles, the Schneider Museum in Ashland, Oregon, Et al. in San Francisco, and the Paul Thiebaud Gallery in San Francisco where she is represented. Wozniak has received a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and was a SECA Finalist at the SFMOMA. She has participated in the Bronx Museum Artist in the Marketplace program; the Marie Walsh Sharpe Program; and received two MacDowell fellowships. Her work has been featured in a number of publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Village Voice, and The Huffington Post, among others. Her work is included in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Knoxville Museum of Art permanent collections. Wozniak lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is an Associate Professor at California College of the Arts.
Contact: karlawoz(@)gmail.com
Instagram: @karla_wozniak
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Pleasures and Days, GGLA, Los Angeles, CA
2024 Heavy Weather, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA (catalog)
Sunshower, Et. al, San Francisco, CA
2023 Cat’s Cradle, Roll Up Projects, Oakland, CA
2018 I Often Dream of Mountains, Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR
Living Room Days, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA (catalog)
2015 The Valley Electric, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA (catalog)
2013 This Weather Is Cosmic, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA (catalog)
Magic Mountain, Colburn Gallery, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
Blue Highway, Trailer Park Proyects, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2011 Significant Landscapes, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 Your Ad Here, Rebecca Ibel Gallery, Columbus, OH (Catalog)
2008 Road Works, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004 Inside Outside, Allston Skirt Gallery, Boston, MA (two-person exhibition)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Homebody, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA
Up-Cycle, Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2022 In Residence, Studio Archive Project, New York, NY
2021 A Stiller Life, Deanna Evans Projects, Queens, NY
2020 Seeing Double, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund Gallery, ODC Theater, San Francisco, CA
2019 Highway Blues, curated by JJ Manford, Underdonk Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Fog of Conspiracy, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Nature Studies, Wild Projects at Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
Surreal Sublime: Contemporary Landscapes, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
Three-Person Presentation, Dallas Art Fair, Gregory Lind Gallery, Dallas, TX
2018 INDOOR/OUTDOOR, curated by Glen Helfand and Kim Nguyen, Toronto Art Fair, Toronto, Canada
Two-Person presentation, Focus California, Toronto Art Fair, Gregory Lind Gallery, Toronto, Canada
For the Love of Painting, Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH
2017 Fortune Teller Chatter, three-person exhibition, Bard College at Simon’s Rock Hilman-
Jackson Gallery, Great Barrington, MA Currents, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN
2016 Two-Person presentation, Seattle Art Fair, Gregory Lind Gallery, Seattle, WA
SIX, Regina Rex, New York, NY
2015 Gazing Inland, Coop Gallery, Nashville, TN
Land Rush, David Lusk Gallery, Nashville, TN
Contemporary Focus, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN
2014 Souvenir, Regina Rex, Queens NY
In On, Heliopolis, Brooklyn, NY
Four Painters, The Property, Los Angeles, CA
All Worked Up, Rhombus Space, Brooklyn, NY
Think / Make / Think, Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Summer Group Show, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Higher Learning, curated by Dannielle Tegeder, Lehman College, Bronx, NY
2013 Wish You Were Here, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Ketchum, ID
RELAY RELAY, Ortega E Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY
doorroomwindow II, PULSE, Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, New York, NY
2012 Mark, Wipe, Scrape, Shape, SPACESHIFTER, Brooklyn, NY
Decade, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Quadrivium, Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
LIFE AND TIMES: Contemporary Notions of Place, Georgia Southern University Gallery, Statesboro, GA
2011 Bronx Calling: The First AIM Biennial, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
2010 Weasel, curated by Kurt Mueller and Chelsea Beck, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX
Rhyme, Not Reason, curated by John Yau, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Cooler Heads Prevail, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 Oscillate Wildly, Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn, NY
Brooklyn Redrawn, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn, NY
2008 This Modern World, curated by Paddy Johnson, GE Headquarters, Fairfield, CT
Crossed Country, Sherman Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA
Everywhere and Nowhere, Platform/Denise Bibro, New York, NY
2007 Something for the Commute, Brooklyn Fire Proof, Brooklyn, NY
A Muzzle of Bees, 33 Bond Gallery, New York, NY
2006 Local Transit, Artists Space, New York, NY
2005 Skyline, Sherman Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA
Yale MFA Painting Thesis Exhibition, New Haven, CT
2004 Perspectives, Galerie Koch, Hannover, Germany
AWARDS / GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / RESIDENCIES
2022 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA
2019 SECA Award Finalist, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
2014 Millay Colony Residency, Austerlitz, NY
2013 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA
2012 UCross Foundation, UCross, WY
2011 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship
2011 Artist in the Marketplace Program, Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY
2009 Marie Walsh Sharpe, The Space Program, New York, NY
2007 MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
2005 MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
2005 Alice Kimball English Traveling Fellowship, Yale University School of Art
2003 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME
2003 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, 2003
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cheng, Dewitt, Karla Wozniak, “Heavy Weather,”, Visual Art Source, October, 2024
Morris, Barbara. “Karla Wozniak@Gregory Lind,” SquareCylinder, March 2018
Cheng, DeWitt. “Karla Wozniak, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA,” Visual Art Source October, 2015
Chun, Kimberly. “Karla Wozniak Paintings a Colorful Hybrid of Bay Area, South,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 25, 2015
Butler, Sharon. “Preview: Karla Wozniak at Gregory Lind,” TwoCoatsofPaint.com, September 7, 2015
Kelley, Megan. “Landscape Art Shape Shifts at David Lush Gallery,” The Tennessean, July 8, 2015
Duncan, S. Heather. “Painter Karla Wozniak Considers the Politics and Landscape of the Land Around Us,” Knoxville Mercury, April 1, 2015
Yau, John. “The Inimitable and Influential Art of Catherine Murphy,” Hyperallergic.com, August 11, 2013
Campbell, Karen. “Critics Picks, The Week Ahead: Theater, Galleries, and Museums,” Boston Globe, September 11, 2013
Morris, Barbara. “Karla Wozniak: ‘This Weather Is Cosmic’ at Gregory Lind,” Art Ltd. Magazine, republished on Painters-Table.com September, 2013
Baker, Kenneth. “Working the World into Works of Art,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 5, 2013
“‘This Weather is Cosmic’ at Gregory Lind,” SFArtEnthusiast.com, July 18, 2013
“Karla Wozniak at Gregory Lind,” Juxtapoz Magazine, July 21, 2013
Kim, Lucy. “This Weather Is Cosmic,” This Weather Is Cosmic catalog, Gregory Lind Gallery, June 2013
Zevitas, Steven. “Must-See Painting Shows: June,” NewAmericanPainting.com, June 10, 2013
“South, Issue 100,” New American Paintings, Open Studios Press, Boston, MA, June/July 2012
Martin, Sarah. “The Maximalist Painter: Karla Wozniak,” Modern Ink Magazine, November 28, 2012
Kohler, William Eckhardt. “Painting Lives! ‘Mark, Wipe, Scrape, Shape’ at Spaceshifter,” HuffingtonPost.com, November, 29, 2012
Zevita, Steven. “Must-See Painting Shows: July/August,” NewAmericanPaintings.com, July 10, 2012
Johnson, Ken. “Learning about the Marketplace and Entering It,” New York Times, August 12, 20
“Karla Wozniak at Gregory Lind Gallery,” Juxtapoz Magazine, July 21, 2011
Esplund, Lance. “Bronx Calling: The First AIM Biennial Taking Aim,” The Wall Street Journal, July 9, 2011
Chun, Kimberly. “Karla Wozniak: ‘Significant Landscapes’ at Gregory Lind,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 30, 2011
Britt, Douglas. “Weasel: A Show About Art Fakes at Inman Annex,” Houston Chronicle, January 6, 2011
Klaasmeyer, Kelly. “Weasels and Deer,” Houston Press, December 15, 2010
Naves, Mario. “Rhyme, Not Reason; Curated by John Yau,” City Arts, September 28, 2010
Yates, Christopher. “Your Ad Here: Paintings Reveal Signs of Conformity,” Columbus Dispatch, March 14, 2010
Brooklyn Redrawn preview, Fox Five, Good Day New York, February 27, 2009
Neidl, Phoebe. “History Meets Art at New BHS Exhibition,” Brooklyn Eagle, January 8, 2009
Baker, R.C. “Best In Show, Karla Wozniak,” Village Voice, p. 46, February 20-25, 2008, p. 46
Coburn, Tyler. “Something for the Commute,” ArtReview, p. 72, February 2007, p. 72
Blagojevic, B. “A Muzzle of Bees at 33 Bond,” Art Cal, The Zine, October 4, 2007
“When it Stings like a Bee,” New York Sun, September 28, 2007
Harper’s Magazine, April 2005, p. 15
CURATORIAL
2019 Making (It) Work, Oliver Art Center, California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA. Curated with Georgia Elrod.
2013 The Sacred and Profane Love Machine, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY
2012 Mark, Wipe, Scrape, Shape, SHAPESHIFTER, Brooklyn, NY. Curated with Sangram Majumdar
2013/14 Founding Member of Ortega y Gasset Projects, Queens, New York
2009 Oscillate Wildly, Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn, NY. Curated with Linnea Paskow
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Knoxville Museum of Art
EDUCATION
MFA, Yale University, Painting and Printmaking, New Haven, CT
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME
BFA, Rhode Island School of Design, Painting Major, Art History Minor, Providence, RI
European Honors Program, Rhode Island School of Design, Rome, Italy
TEACHING
Associate Professor, California College of the Arts, Painting and Drawing Program, Graduate Fine Arts Program