Natalie Westbrook

Natalie Westbrook
Natalie Westbrook
Born	Louisville, Kentucky
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	Cooper Union, Yale University School of Art, University of Louisville
Occupation	Artist
Years active	2009-present
Known for	Contemporary Art
Website	www.nataliewestbrook.com

Natalie Westbrook (b. 1980 Louisville, Kentucky) is a multimedia artist whose work spans painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture. Using both vibrant and monochrome palettes, her practice addresses the complex relationship between humans and the natural environment. Westbrook has lectured at Yale School of Art, Carnegie Mellon University, Cooper Union, Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford, the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Westbrook is an American artist known for her large-scale theatrical work that explores psychological themes of desire and consumption. Her practice deals with both the materiality and representative elements of painting, using experimental techniques in painting, drawing, collage and printmaking.

Early life and education

Westbrook was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. She received an MFA in Painting from Yale University School of Art (2010), an MA in Critical and Curatorial Studies from the University of Louisville (2004), and a BFA from The Cooper Union (2002).

Work

Westbrook’s practice “confronts the limits of what makes painting possible”, according to art writer Jeffrey Grunthaner. “Abstract, yet of the body and nature, her paintings and paper works present a bold take on the interconnectedness within the environment, humanity, and the painting process.” Her work incorporates a wide range of art historical references from trompe l’oeil and classical history painting to gestural graffiti-like abstraction, creating illusionistic works that emphasize a relationship between pictorial space and surface. Westbrook’s “playful depictions of a strange natural world” are known to “focus on the kinships and volatility of disparate organic life, filtered through psychological expression.” Her large-scale works have been noted to evoke both beauty and menace. Saturated, lush colors and frenetic patterning lend a sense of claustrophobia and the grotesque, exuding the “aggressive energy of fecundity while reflecting an exuberant celebration of life.” Westbrook is represented by Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA, OMNI Gallery, London, UK, Keijsers Koning, Dallas, TX, Rarity Gallery, Mykonos, Greece. Westbrook’s works are shown in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Selected Exhibitions

MIRROR MIRROR, Everyday Mooonday, Seoul, Korea, 2023
Sometimes I Scare Myself, Torch, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2023
Lost Horizon, OMNI, London, UK, 2023
Mother of Pearl, Keijsers Koning, Dallas, TX, 2022
Surface Tension, Freight+Volume, New York, 2021
Irreverent Objects, Wonzimer, Los Angeles, 2021
Possession, Chashama, New York, 2021
Natalie Westbrook, Rarity Gallery, Mykonos, Greece, 2020
Odds and Ends: Book Fair, Yale University Art Gallery, 2019
The Raft, Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media, New Haven, CT 2018
LABYRINTH, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland, 2018
On Desire, B3 Biennial of the Moving Image, Frankfurt, Germany, 2018
Hunger, CRUSH Curatorial, New York, 2018
Canopy, Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA 2014
Deluge, Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA 2013
Diamond Head, Interstate Projects, Brooklyn, NY 2013
Suddenness + Certainty, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, 2013

Collections

Public collections include The Markel Corporation, Redbank, New Jersey; the Art Bank Program, US Department of State, Washington, DC; Capital One, Richmond, VA; Haleakala Museum; Haleakala National Park, Maui, HI.

Honors and Awards

Westbrook is the recipient of the Robert Schoelkopf Memorial Travel Grant (2010) and the Carol Schlosberg Memorial Prize for Excellence in Painting (2010) from the Yale School of Art, and she has been invited as Visiting Artist to institutions including the Ora Lerman Trust Artist Residency (2006), Haleakala National Park (2013), and the Visiting Artist Colloquium at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (2021).

Collaborations

In 2017, Westbrook co-founded the periodic art journal Lookie-Lookie with artist and partner Johannes DeYoung, which included contributions and collaborations with artists Lisa Kereszi, Federico Solmi, Josephine Halvorson, Kenny Rivero, Jack Whitten, Martha Colburn, Mark Thomas Gibson, and William Villalongo amongst others.

Westbrook and DeYoung have collaborated on several mixed-media animation projects, including exhibitions and events at Robert Miller Gallery (2013), Interstate Projects (2013), the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image (2017), and Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (2018).

Between 2006 - 2012, Westbrook collaborated with The Paper Bag Players, the oldest operating children’s theater company in the United States. Westbrook worked closely with Judith Martin, who co-founded the company with Remy Charlip, another Cooper Union alum and founding member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

Disastersaur

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