For inquiries or to say hello please contact hdrayzen@gmail.com

Heather Drayzen makes small-scale paintings of quiet domestic scenes, often featuring herself and her loved ones. Drayzen, born in 1985 in San Antonio, TX, currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. She earned her MAT from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, in 2008, and a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, NY, in 2007. Drayzen participated in a two-person exhibition at My Pet Ram in New York City, NY, in 2023, along with having works included on PLATFORM in the same year. She has also taken part in group shows at Myriam Chair Galerie in Paris, France (2023), Thierry Goldberg in New York City, NY (2023), and Pentimenti Gallery in Philadelphia, PA (2023), among others. She was an artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT, in 2023. Her paintings have been featured in Art Maze Magazine's Issues 26 and Double Volume Edition 30-31, and her works on paper were included in Deanna Evans Projects' Trove in 2023. She is currently working towards a solo exhibition at My Pet Ram, opening in May 2024.

Statement

I was raised with a keen awareness of the beauty and fragility of life. In 2019 and recently in 2023, I experienced health scares--this, combined with the pandemic in 2020, cultivated an urgency to document my life, memories, and relationships.

My paintings draw upon my lived experiences, interior world, and emotions with a tender and intimate touch. I primarily paint small-scale domestic scenes in oil on canvas often featuring myself and those I cherish in quiet moments. Experiences like sharing a cup of morning coffee, grabbing a bite from the fridge, or taking a nap with the pups take place in an atmosphere of iridescent golden light, highlighting the passage of time while nodding to art historical influences including Bonnard, Vuillard, Morisot, and Munch. Jewel-like fields of day-glo color contrast with subtle neutral tones tapping into a full on sensory experience.

My work sits between figuration and abstraction, and I render descriptive elements with varying levels of information to summon a psychological energy. Each painting is a vignette within the larger narrative of my life, and when viewed together they reveal the feeling of a life lived along with a genuine emotional history.