Squeak Carnwath "Paintings"

March 5, 2025—April 26, 2025 | Reception Saturday March 8th, 4-6PM

James Harris Gallery is pleased to present the seventh solo exhibition by Squeak Carnwath and her first in Dallas. The artist has honed a distinctive painting practice influenced by New Image Painting, Conceptualism and Process Art. She continues to develop a highly individualized visual language derived from the history of art and personal associations, molding a dialogue that is at once static and yet ever changing. By employing words, object images, patterns, and stunning color, Carnwath’s work investigates our humanity and often everyday things we take for granted. Titled “Another Day”, the show consists of ten paintings created over a period of five years. The exhibition gives our Dallas audience a concise view of the artist’s work that she has developed for over five decades.

Carnwath’s artwork communicates her perception of the world as seen through a female lens. Her paintings are visual notations of her daily observations and use an iconography of referential objects to comment on human character, behavior, and memory. Often combining these symbols with text to illuminate current social and political issues. The overarching thread that runs through all her work is the transmutation of daily life in America that we take for granted. Her work points out the beauty in the mundane and the complexity of the ordinary.

At first glance, Carnwath’s paintings have a naiveté, but her painting process is extremely labored and is an act of dedication to the medium itself. Keenly aware of art history and current art trends, her work often draws on its canons. Each work has multiple layers of painting allowing for erasure and obfuscation.

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“Freedom to Freedom From” 2018
"If Not Now When" 2020
"Our Own" 2022
"Just Noticeable Difference" 2022
"Believe" 2018
"Quiet" 2019-21
"Pleasure" 2022
"Pattern Chatter" 2022
"Words Fail" 2022

Squeak Carnwath

Squeak Carnwath is a painter and printmaker who uses text, color field painting, and a wide variety of recognizable symbols to make interesting, engaging, and relatable works. Her works have the intimate feel of a diary, but acknowledge universal themes that are familiar to every viewer. Her paintings work together to form a kind of visual conversation within the spaces that they are displayed. Carnwath utilizes traditional painting techniques such as trompe l’oeil and symbolism, while also making statements that question the viewer’s thoughts and emotions. Carnwath wants the viewer to make connections between words, objects and shapes; connections that often evoke moments of humor and sadness. Carnwath currently lives and works in Oakland, California.

 She has received numerous awards including the Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) Award from San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, two Individual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Award for Individual Artists from the Flintridge Foundation. Carnwath is Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley.