PENELOPE GOTTLEIB - ARTIST STATEMENT
This series of paintings disrupts the archive of John James Audubon’s Birds of America, infusing his iconic imagery with a contemporary urgency. Drawing on the pervasive threat of invasive species—a primary driver of extinction—the work emerges from an extensive research process that underscores the delicate balance of our environment.
Conceptually, the project begins by ‘invading’ Audubon’s meticulously rendered plates with tightly woven bands of invasive plant species. In this act of formal and ideological disruption, Penelope Gottlieb mimics Audubon’s style, blurring the boundary between his 19th-century vision and her own, creating a kind of duet—a conversation across time. In these interventions, nature turns against itself, the birds becoming ensnared within the very ecosystems they once inhabited. In doing so, she aims to highlight a contemporary reflection on ecological fragility, contrasting the exploitative view of nature that Audubon embodied—“a day without killing 100 birds is a day wasted”—with our current understanding of the impact of human intervention on the natural world.
The added layers of symbolic imagery—derived from the artist's research into the plants and animals within each scene—serve to deepen the narrative. Each object embedded within the composition functions as a discrete storytelling device, opening up new pathways for interpretation and dialogue. For Gottlieb, these narratives are a crucial part of the creative process, offering a more nuanced discourse on the state of our fragile world.
"In my paintings, the birds themselves become proxies for self, offering a reflection on our shared vulnerability in an era of environmental crisis. Through these altered plates, I hope to provoke a more complex and expansive understanding of our relationship to the world around us, urging a deeper contemplation of the roles we play, both as artists and as inhabitants of a rapidly changing planet."
BIO
After receiving her BFA from the Art Center College for Design in Pasadena, Penelope Gottlieb went on to earn her MFA from the University of California in Santa Barbara where she currently lives and works.
Gottlieb’s work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums including: The LA Louver Gallery, The Gerald Peters Gallery, The Michael Kohn Gallery, The Edward Cella Gallery, Light Box Gallery, The Whitney Museum of Western Art, The Heather James Gallery, The Page Bond Gallery, Otis Art Institute, The Monterey Museum of Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, the Nevada Museum of Art, Krannert Art Museum, The Chicago Botanic Garden, Lotusland, The Whatcome Museum, The Museum of the Southwest and the National Museum of Wildlife Art.
Her work is included in private and public collections including: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Chicago Art Institute, The New-York Historical Society Museum & Library, The National Museum of Wildlife Art, The Whitney Museum of Western Art, The Nevada Museum of Art, The 21c Museum, The Palm Springs Museum of Art.
Penelope Gottlieb won an Emmy for Motion Picture Title Design.