Heather Day (b. 1989, Honolulu, HI) is an artist based in the Mojave Desert of California. Building on the traditions of abstract expressionism, her paintings explore overlapping themes of sensory perception, memory, and elements of the natural world.
Day builds vast inventories of painted forms that are taken apart, rearranged, and sewn back together in a concert of opposing forces and color fields. This counter-productive process embraces our limited control over chaos, and draws the viewer in through rhyming lyrical gestures and harmonizing fields of pigment.
Her paintings, both in form and in color, are meant to challenge our expectations of the everyday experience and encourage the viewer to meditate on their own personal histories. How does the sound of a grating branch in the wind translate to an errant mark? How does a vibrating, painted wash capture raking light in the moments before sunset? This exploration seeks to push boundaries, evoking contemplation on the dynamic relationship between the tangible and the abstract.
Biography
Heather Day received her Bachelor of Fine Art in 2012 from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, Maryland where she studied painting and art history. Select solo and group presentations include Almine Rech, Paris (2024), König Galerie, Berlin (2024), Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco (2023), Art Basel, Miami (2023), The Armory Show, New York (2023), Marfa Invitational (2023), The Pit, Los Angeles (2022), among others.
Day’s work has been featured in W Magazine, Art Forum, and Galerie Magazine’s “Next Big Thing” (2022). Her paintings can be found in collections such as Fort Wayne Museum of Art and The Macedonia Institute.
Education
2012 - BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art
Studio
Mojave Desert, California
Select Solo Exhibitions
2024
Echoes in Motion, two-person show at Library Street Collective, Detroit, MI
Cut, Split, Horizon - Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
A Moving Window - Almine Rech, Paris, France
Liminal Spaces - König Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2023
The Armory Show, two-person booth with The Pit, New York, NY
Scattering Light - Marfa Invitational, Marfa, TX
2022
Split Screen - The Pit, Los Angeles, CA
Night Crackle - Louis Buhl & Co., Detroit, MI
2021
Convergence - Anna Zorina Gallery, NY
2020
Ricochet - Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Woolgathers - Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
2019
Seattle Art Fair with Joshua Liner Gallery, Seattle, WA
2018
Keep Still - Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco, CA
Select Group Exhibitions
2024
(Upcoming) Art Basel with Berggruen Gallery, Miami, FL
(Upcoming) NADA with The Pit, Miami, FL
Art on Paper Fair with Almine Rech, Brussels, BE
The Armory Show with Berggruen Gallery, New York, NY
Gesture & Form: Women in Abstraction, Almine Rech, New York, NY
Dallas Art Fair with Berggruen Gallery, Dallas, TX
Halfway to Sanity, The Pit, Los Angeles, CA
Abstract Perspectives, Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Fog Art Fair with Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023
Art Basel with Berggruen Gallery, Miami, FL
Untitled Art Fair with Library Street Collective, Miami, FL
Places and Events, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Impulse of an Era, Albertz Benda, New York, NY
Intersect Art Fair with The Pit, Palm Springs, CA
2022
New Art Dealers Association (NADA) with The Pit, Miami, FL
The Pit Presents, No. 9 Cork Street with FRIEZE, London, United Kingdom
It Takes a Village, Library Street Collective, Detroit, MI
NADA with The Pit, New York City, NY
Zona Maco, Anna Zorina Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
2021
New Art Dealers Association (NADA) with The Pit, Miami, FL
Messe in St Agnes Fair, König Galerie, Berlin and Hamburg, Germany
Dog Days, The Pit, Palm Springs, CA
WOP, Woaw Gallery, Hong Kong, China
We Swam As If The World Weren’t Ending, Gallery Gertrude, Tiburon, CA
Expo Chicago Art Fair with Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Chicago, IL
Glass Case of Emotion, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2020
Untitled Art Fair Miami with Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Miami, FL
Eight Works by Eight Artists, Ever Gold Projects, San Francisco, CA
The Glass House: Benefit Auction 2020, New Canaan, CT
GalleryPlatform.LA with Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Beyond Words, Cult Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA
Spring Break Art Fair with Chandran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
By Women, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
Untitled Art Fair with Royale Projects, San Francisco, CA
Drawn Together, Unit London, UK
2019
Secret Santa, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Pour - two-person show at Joshua Liner Gallery, NY
If You Steal My Sunshine: California Abstraction Now, Royale Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Your Favorite Artist’s Favorite Artist, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY
2018
Massachusets Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MOCA) Boston, Massachusetts
Interference, Pt. 2 Gallery, Oakland, CA
Pantone Color of the Year Exhibition, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI
Art on Paper Fair, Hashimoto Contemporary, New York, NY
2017
About Abstraction, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
Juxtapoz Clubhouse, during Art Basel, Miami, FL
Artist in Residence
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
Macedonia Institute Artist Residency, Chatham, NY
WIP Gallery Residency at Artisphere, Arlington, VA