In Her Maine Studio, Anne Buckwalter Paints Playfully Provocative Domestic Scenes, Breaking to Feed Chickens and Pick Blueberries
The artist's solo exhibition "Reins on a Rocking Horse" is currently on view at Rachel Uffner in New York.
Katie White, September 19, 2023
Anne Buckwalter’s studio is a room with many painted rooms within it. The artist, who recently moved to Maine, is known for her flattened and precise interior spaces that meld the vernacular of the Pennsylvania Dutch folk art tradition with the accouterments of contemporary life. There is more than first meets the eye playing out in these astute compositions, however. Oftentimes, carnal interludes are hiding in plain sight.
In one new work, Good Listener, currently on view in “Reins on a Rocking Horse”—the artist’s second solo exhibition with Rachel Uffner in New York—a seemingly quaint bedroom bursts with folksy patterns like a blue quilted bedspread, riotously floral wallpaper, and a painted headboard. But look closely at the objects strewn across the bed—a black silk stocking, an illicit magazine spread open, a twist of red rope—and the homey space inverts unexpectedly into a kinky boudoir in disguise. In other works, mirrors reflect cuts of naked skin, while chairs and cabinets stand as silent witnesses to the household.
Buckwalter, who grew up in Pennsylvania, creates these unexpectedly provocative gouache works in a home studio. Her cat Hoagie is her only studio companion as Buckwalter much prefers to work in isolation.
As Buckwalter was putting the finishing touches on her show at Rachel Uffner, we caught up with the artist to talk about foraging for blueberries, searching for toads, and yes, painting in her studio.
