LEADING A COLORFUL LIFE

HOT BED is pleased to present LEADING A COLORFUL LIFE, an ambitious six-person exhibition of painting, print, and sculpture from artists connected to Philadelphia. LEADING A COLORFUL LIFE asks viewers to reflect on what color means to them personally: where in your life do you find color? What might it mean for you to live a “colorful life?”

With its many variances in tone and hue, color is a complex realm of expression for artists around the world. Its uniquely individual qualities enable artists to capture emotions with pinpoint precision. LEADING A COLORFUL LIFE invites viewers into the colorful lives of six artists whose work, though similar in their expansive color palettes, charts vastly different terrain. Rich in emotion and teeming with life, the works in LEADING A COLORFUL LIFE exemplify the infinite range of color’s expressive abilities.

The six artists in this show approach color from distinctly unique positions. Ziui Chen uses color to meld Euro-American and Chinese painting traditions, re-coloring her childhood with fantastical vignettes of intimacy and affection. Krista Dedrick-Lai uses vibrant and contrasting hues to paint the emotional intensities of motherhood. Sean Gerstley’s ceramic works explore the whimsy and joy of adding color in unexpected places around the home. Su Knoll Horty’s Color Pops utilize what she calls “analogous tones” to create cosmic, environmental works. Eric Uhlir’s energetic style and dense scenes rely on color’s full spectrum to deliver dynamic and immersive compositions. Maria Zamora’s textiles and painting masterfully utilize fundamental color schemes to maximum effect, relishing in the richness of colors both natural and unnatural.

LEADING A COLORFUL LIFE embraces the beauty that flows from bringing together six distinct approaches to color. The works presented in this show balance deeply personal methods with a universal appreciation for the magnitude of color, resonating on a profound level that encourages personal introspection, conversation, and imagination. With this exhibition, HOT BED hopes to inspire visitors to reflect on what color means to them and how they might lead a colorful life.