Katy Becker

Katy Becker (b. 1991) is a Richmond-based artist who received her BFA in 2013 from Virginia Commonwealth University's Painting and Printmaking department. Since her time in school, Becker's work has shifted from printmaking abstracted, atmospheric monotypes to detailed and realistic watercolor landscapes, most of which are directly inspired by walks she takes in the city. A wife and mother, she spends her days homemaking and homeschooling while stealing away small pockets of time to paint. She enjoys spending time with her husband and children, baking, gardening, entertaining friends, and reading.

Artist Statement

I am drawn towards the mundane, overlooked, and often forgotten corners of the world we inhabit. Careful and delicate rendering forces the viewer to contemplate these spaces normally dismissed as eyesores. Can beauty and dignity exist within a pile of weeds or graffiti strewn across a back door? Some of these landscapes sing joyfully as they fulfill their purpose—lights illuminating a road or a tidy alley dotted with gardens and neatly lined trashcans. Other areas groan and buckle under neglect, calling out for revival and care to revisit them once again.

Many of these paintings were made slowly, over a period of several months or even a year, while others are a result of quick sketching. These two ways of working act as foils to one another, allowing for both a careful examination of the subject and a jubilant exploration into mark-making and abstraction. Together, they invite the viewer into considering the strange, wild poetics hidden within our everyday landscapes.