I propose to exhibit a selection of works from my recent series Apart. This is an ongoing body of work that reflects the tension between us as individuals and the systems that define our world. I constantly wonder how I as an artist can effectively respond to the daily injustices people experience. Growing up surrounded by the propaganda of a dictatorial regime, I resist the urge to follow that path, instead focusing on a more nuanced response.

As an immigrant from communist Czechoslovakia raised by Holocaust survivors, my personal history was shaped me to inhabit a particular vantage point—an observer of society, neither fully belonging to the world I live in nor to the one I came from. This dual perspective fuels my perception of global events, particularly the alarming resurgence of totalitarianism and its implications for us all.

The notion of civilizations collapsing, strikes a passionate chord within me, especially now, as we are powerlessly watching the awful human consequences and devastation of the middle east by cruel imperial whims.

I hope that my work, driven by a conviction that we can and must learn from the past, trying to prevent the repetition of its darkest chapters reminds the viewer of how art and joy can form meaningful modes of resistance.

I find comfort in direct interaction with materials – painting, drawing, and collage—through which I express my observations and emotions. Each mark is a contemplative act, a quest to transform feelings of helplessness into a resonant expression that speaks to me. My creative process unfolds organically, driven by intuition and a desire to uncover the unseen and the unexpected. I explore both the accumulation and subtraction, reflecting the fluidity and subjectivity of my personal experiences and insights.

In my art I’m dedicated to forging these new pathways, blending the poignant realities of our global challenges with the enduring beauty and potential for renewal that each new day brings.

Tatana Kellner’s work is rooted in social issues and based in printmaking. She has been exhibited in numerous venues across the USA, Canada and Europe, and she has had over 50 solo exhibitions. Recently, her work has been selected for inclusion in Figureworks Gallery, Lockwood Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Art Alive (Delhi, India), Pen & Brush Gallery, KIPNZ Gallery, Ringling School of Art, University of Albany Museum, Dorsky Museum, CEPA, Kentler International Drawing Space, New York Public Library, among many others.

Kellner is a co-founder and past artistic director of Women’s Studio Workshop. Currently she’s active in D.R.A.W., an artist community that is helping to solve problems and builds relationships across barriers to cultivate community through shared artistic expression, communication and appreciation.

In 2021 she was inducted into the Hall of Champions, North American Hand Papermakers. Kellner is a recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the Pollock Krasner Foundation, The Creative Climate Award, the Puffin Foundation, Photographer’s Fund Award (CPW), New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships, and many others.

Kellner has been awarded fellowship residencies at The MacDowell, Yaddo, Banff Centre for the Arts, Light Work,Visual Studies Workshop, Saltonstall, I-Park, Millay Arts, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Artpark, Blue Mountain Center, Jentel, Foundacion Valparaiso, Bogliasco Foundation, Siena Art Institute, Ucross, Haystack and Ragdale Foundation.

She was born in the Czech Republic and immigrated to the USA in 1969.