Artist Feature: Andrea Kowch

Drawing inspiration from the Southern Gothic tradition, Andrea Kowch creates chilling and richly narrative paintings with a heavy Andrew Wyeth influence.

A Michigan native, she uses the Midwestern landscape as the primary setting for her work; windswept fields and barren marshes, decrepit farmhouses, and roaming livestock feature prominently in each of her paintings.

Her subjects are almost always females who, with their wild hair and prarie-style frocks, blend in seamlessly with the landscapes.

Kowch employs photo-realism, capturing surreal situations in incredibly life-like detail.

There is a tension which almost pervades her paintings, castings a shadow upon the otherwise idyllic settings.

Whether it be a looming dark sky, a somber expression on one of the women's faces, or a snarling dog in the foreground, there is an underlying sense of unease, which gives the paintings a kind of mystique and drives the viewer's fascination.

One of the main themes Kowch explores in her work is man's connection with nature. Even when the subjects are indoors, the natural world always manages to rear its head; windows offer views of the sprawling fields, birds and dogs attend meals or join their human counterparts in repose, and tables are laden with fresh fruits and vegetables, no doubt harvested from the land.
Kowch's paintings also speak to female companionship.

Her characters, who often appear in twos or threes, subsist independently from men. They tend the earth themselves and care for one another, living harmoniously off the land.