There's a moment in the studio when a painting stops needing you. Shilo Ratner reflects on what makes a painting feel emotionally alive, from intuitive color choices and visible layers to the tension between imperfection and completion.
A reflection on meeting Theophilus Brown after being selected for the Art Space 712 portrait exhibition in San Francisco.
Shilo Ratner was awarded the Weiss Sisters Prize at the 116th New Haven Paint and Clay Club Juried Exhibition for the original painting Leisure, a 36x36 inch work in the Bay Area Figurative style, juried by Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art Director Richard Klein.
I still remember the first painting I bought for myself. I was in my early 20s, standing in a small gallery, going back and forth on whether I should do it.
It felt like a big deal, because it was.
I was excited, but also nervous about spending the money. I didn't fully understand yet what it meant to live with a piece of original art, only that I wanted my apartment to feel more like mine, more considered, more complete.
Held in geometry. A mountain coast at the edge of day.
There is a particular kind of light that seems to slow everything down.
It happens late in the afternoon, when the sun begins to drop and the landscape changes. Mountains turn ochre and sienna. Water becomes a darker, quieter blue. The edges of the landscape begin to soften, even as the forms themselves become more defined.
That feeling was at the center of Golden Coast, a new 40 × 40 original painting and one of the most layered works I have created in this series.
Daily Nutmeg writer Kathy Leonard Czepiel reviews Shilo Ratner's 2020 solo exhibition at DaSilva Gallery, exploring how her geometric abstract paintings use color, shape, and repetition to create calm, meditative visions in chaotic times.
A reflection on the Georgia O'Keeffe traveling exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, and what her wit, obsession, and lifelong drive to create continue to mean to my practice as a painter.
Art is connection. Discover the creative philosophy behind minimalist landscape paintings that transform nature's impressions into expansive, meditative works designed to bring quiet sophistication and grounding to your space.
What made this exhibition particularly meaningful was the caliber of its juror: Marcela Guerrero, Assistant Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Guerrero's curatorial practice centers on expanding the canon of American art, with a focus on underrepresented artists and the expressive power of color and abstraction.
Traces of Stillness is a contemplative 6×6 inch collage series by Shilo Ratner exploring quiet mountain landscapes through minimal form, layered paper, and subtle geometry. Original works on paper available now.
Most conversations about art end at the point of purchase. But what happens after a painting comes home? That's where the real story begins, and where the value of original art truly reveals itself.