Margaret Neumann

Margaret Neumann explores the emotional landscapes of thoughts and feelings that form our sense of self. Whether we choose to face them or not, these emotions are universal, and ultimately form the basis of religious and spiritual institutions, as well as political and ideological movements across time and cultures. Many of these emotions relate to man’s vulnerability in the universe, and our attempt to find safety and ‘certainty’ no matter how small or how briefly.

Neumann’s paintings explore the process we go through to find, understand and come to terms with these emotions – a process that requires a peeling away of layers of defenses and fears. Indeed, Neumann’s painting method mirrors this process, but rather than peeling away, she ‘layers up’, beginning with a vague idea and unformed figures to a set of floating images embedded in and emerging out of the paint itself. Like the many layers of the self, Margaret Neumann builds up surfaces stroke by stroke until she sees an image that conveys the struggles confronted by the human psyche.

Margaret Neumann (b. 1942, New York) received her MFA from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1969. She has been a formative force in the arts in Denver, serving as a founding member of Spark Gallery, a member of Armory Group and Pirate Contemporary, and one of the initial resource artists at RedLine. Her Colorado exhibitions include a solo show at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, a recent Retrospective exhibition at RedLine, as well as exhibitions at noted institutions such as the Denver Art Museum, the Mizel Arts and Culture Center, and the Colorado Fine Arts Cente and was the recipient of the Governor’s Award.