Gallery CA proudly presents the second solo exhibition from Baltimore/Sao Paulo-based artist Rowan Bathurst, Midnight In A Perfect World, curated by Quentin Gibeau. Sourcing inspiration from the eternal ideal and repeated variations of the female gaze through art pre-history and contemporary media, Bathurst seeks to create a vision of a just and safe world for women. Inspired by the grace that women and female-bodied people are forced to call upon in a world actively built against their self-interest and determination, Bathurst conjures an illustrative and fantastical mood board. Utilizing collaged elements, portraiture, and cinematic visuals to create this utopia, Bathurst asks viewers to imagine what it means to hold the ideas of power and beauty simultaneously, just as the subjects of her work do, and what it means to build a world one deserves.
About the Artist:
Rowan Bathurst (b. 1995 Baltimore, MD) lives and works between Baltimore, MD, and São Paulo, Brazil. Primarily focusing on portraiture of the female body, she paints from her own photographs of close friends while incorporating elements and familiar landscapes from her time living in rural Brazil and backpacking through the continents.
Beyond her latest exhibition, Bathurst’s recent work focuses on creating a dialogue between present day women and prehistoric artifacts, particularly venus figurines and ceramic antiquities.
Inspired by these archeological pieces, feminist history, and our instinctive connection to the earth, the paintings radiate warmth, sisterhood and a profound, innate bond that we share with our lineage. The work offers a different perspective when observing women in art, one that emanates tranquility and confidence while maintaining vulnerability. Mysticism and primitivity are a part of every human; her paintings invite the viewer to discover and praise that history we carry within us.
Bathurst earned her BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2018. Her work has been collected and exhibited locally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions. She was nominated as a participating artist for The Rema Hort Mann Foundation in 2022. Alongside her studio practice, she participates in mural work internationally.
