Nan Whitney

I am an American mixed media abstract artist. My work is intuitive, energetically gestural, and textural, a visual narrative and exploratory dance between color, shape and line. Through my mark making and fluidity of movement I explore vulnerability, courage and expression of spirit.

I paint and draw the journey of personal memories and complex inherited stories. It is the emotional experience I have working through the process - the ebb and flow of applied color, lines made and obscured - that is transformative for me. This process starts a deep inner dialogue and helps me explore and understand the grace of imperfection. Painting for me is a primal expansive experience of freedom.

I work on paper and raw canvas, loving their textural feel and the way they embrace my gestures. Thin washes of color, graphite, oil pastel and charcoal create lines and strong sharp marks with uneven boundaries.