photo by cowen bailey
Elizabeth Patterson
Elizabeth Patterson grew up in Pennsylvania and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Though she won recognition from a very early age, her success as an emerging artist came to an abrupt halt in 1984. A severe crush injury resulted in a complete loss of use of her drawing hand necessitating two years of intensive medical treatment. Feeling uncertain that she would ever draw again, Elizabeth put her artistic pursuits aside and embarked on a completely different career path.
Fifteen years later, at the urging of her partner, Elizabeth resolved to return to her art-making practice. She discovered that her gift for drawing remained in tact. In her initial foray back to her artwork, memories of a much-loved Hawaiian vacation were captured in a series of brilliant aquatic drawings. The challenge presented by the subject material stirred the artist’s imagination and compelled her to begin a new body of work. Employing colored pencil, graphite and a touch of solvent, Patterson began to experiment with urban scenes but maintained the challenge of representing water in the compositions.
The viewer is situated inside a car. The car is moving down a city street or a deserted highway. Rain pelts car windshields. Headlights shimmer in a watery haze. Landscape morphs into a curvilinear field of waterlogged green. No matter the location (Los Angeles, New Orleans, Paris) stormy weather recorded with Patterson’s degree of fluency and precision engenders a profound emotional vitality in the artist’s ongoing series.
Her work has won critical review and numerous awards. Most recently Elizabeth’s work was featured in a solo exhibition at CK Contemporary in San Francisco.
In the United States, Elizabeth is represented by CK Contemporary, San Francisco and Thomas Paul Fine Art, West Hollywood.
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
Chasing the Rain - Drawings by Elizabeth Patterson, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, 2010
Elizabeth Patterson: Imagining the Rain, Galerie Louis Carré, Paris, France, 2012
Elizabeth Patterson: The Abstraction of Reality, Galerie Louis Carré, Paris, France, 2016
Elizabeth Patterson - Paris and Other Places, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, 2016
Through the Looking Glass: The Colored Pencil Drawings of Elizabeth Patterson, CK Contemporary, San Francisco, 2020
Group Shows
In the Eye of the Beholder: Contemporary Drawings, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, 2008
Splash, Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard CA, 2011
Influential Element: Depictions of Water, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, 2011
Photorealism: The Everyday Illuminated, Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2014
Gallery Selections, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, 2014
Important Works on Paper, Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, 2015
Works on Paper, Selections from the gallery, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, 2015
Urban Sprawl | Examining the Human Environment, CK Contemporary, San Francisco, 2019
Fair booths
Los Angeles Art Show, presented by the Fine Art Dealers Association, Louis Stern Fine Arts, Los Angeles, 2010
Houston Fine Art Fair, Louis Stern Fine Arts, Houston, TX, 2011
Art Aspen, Louis Stern Fine Arts, Aspen Colorado, 2011
Los Angeles Art Show, presented by the Fine Art Dealers Association, Louis Stern Fine Arts, Los Angeles, 2011
Louis Stern Fine Arts at Art Toronto, Louis Stern Fine Arts, 2016
CK Contemporary at Art on Paper New York, CK Contemporary, 2018
CK Contemporary at Seattle Art Fair, CK Contemporary, 2018
CK Contemporary at Art on Paper New York, CK Contemporary, 2019