Paula Wittner’s works in oils and gouache range from the real to the fantastical. She draws on her own family and life to portray the intensely personal in a manner that is universal by documenting her journey in ways that we recognize as our own.

At times we see generations of a family with increasingly divergent and diverse experiences but shared cultural and spiritual anchors, at other times the people and landscapes of the American southwest, the carnival, commedia dell’arte and other traditions are her proximal subjects.

Wittner’s work is deeply informed by her upbringing but equally influenced by her insights into human nature. She takes the time to observe deeply, with great empathy and wit. As a result she portrays and thus reminds us of our experience of human emotions in the noble, the quotidian, and at times the less admirable, aspects of our existence. 

These are works committed to truth and beauty; it is these qualities that allow us to enter her sphere easily, that draw us to these paintings, where we discover the familiar as well as the profound and recognize our memories and history in a manner that inspires us to create a shared, more humane future together. 

– Daniela Soleri