Musonium Grand Prize Award Winner

Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2024

Andrea Kowch

Title:

“In the Distance”

Medium & Dimensions:

Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 in

About the Artist

American artist, Andrea Kowch, combines realistic narrative and naturalistic technique, subtly fused with surreal, dreamlike undercurrents in the quest to investigate and represent the human condition. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she attended the College for Creative Studies, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a BFA. Her paintings are rich in mood, allegory, and precision of medium, reflecting a wealth of influences from Northern Renaissance and American art to the rural landscapes and vernacular architecture of her native Michigan. Kowch’s highly acclaimed paintings garner Best of Show awards globally. Major exhibitions at museums and galleries include the Bo Bartlett Center, Museum of Art-Deland, where her recent solo retrospective, Mysterious Realms was presented in 2023, London and Rome’s Dorothy Circus Gallery, Muskegon Museum of Art, where her first solo retrospective Dream Fields debuted in 2013, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville, Grand Rapids Art Museum, ArtPrize, Art Basel Miami, the Los Angeles Art Show, ArtHamptons, and SCOPE NYC. She also frequently headlines leading national and international art publications. Kowch’s works occupy public and museum collections, such as the R.W. Norton Art Gallery Museum, of the R.W. Norton Art Foundation, Muskegon Museum of Art, Grand Rapids Art Museum, and significant private collections worldwide. Kowch works and resides in Michigan, and is represented exclusively by RJD Gallery.

“In the Distance”: Love is a flaming catalyst that alters reality in a flash. My mind opens and tunes into a new frequency. Is the storm upon the horizon approaching or departing? What, or Who, might this storm be? What transference does it carry? Will it strike down or dissipate as swiftly as it arrives? My duality awakens. The real and unreal are one. I am reminded that yin and yang energy is ever-present in all things. The male presence reveals how my paintings evolve with me, imparting experiences and lessons learned. The woman baking rouses from a reverie, alerted to distant thunder and a sudden electric charge that cuts the air. Two men feverishly harvest wheat, the source of her bread. The horizon implies an unknown destiny. This work is a testament to the divine power of two halves creating a whole.