Heather Sporing-Drayzen (b. 1985, San Antonio, Texas), currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Her paintings draw upon her lived experiences, interior world, and emotions with a tender and intimate touch. Drayzen holds a MAT from Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from School of Visual Arts. In 2023, she had a two-person exhibition at My Pet Ram in New York City and was reviewed in Two Coats of Paint. She has an upcoming solo exhibition at My Pet Ram in 2024. Recent group shows include Myriam Chair Galerie in Paris, France, Thierry Goldberg in New York City, and Pentimenti Gallery in Philadelphia, PA among others. Her work is also included in Deanna Evans Projects’ online flat file program, Trove. In 2023, she was an artist in residence at Vermont Studio Center and as well as a finalist for The Hopper Prize. Her work has been featured in publications including Art Maze Magazine Issues 26 and Double Volume Edition 30-31 along with the I Like Your Work Podcast 2022 Spring, Summer, and Fall Exhibition Catalogs.

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.

Exhibitions:

In The Middle With You

Between Us