Jody Uttal works in a variety of media exploring imagery that is both formal as well as intimate. Long interested in watercolor, she sees herself as engaging with the paint, which can be temperamental and unforgiving. “Watercolor has a life of its own” she says. “At its best, it has a lightness and immediacy that can’t be achieved with any other medium. Every brushstroke is different. You can’t completely control it, and sometimes you have to put a painting aside and move on.”
Her series Concurrences is inspired in part by early 20th century Finnish textiles, the woven works of Bauhaus artist Anni Albers, and the grid paintings of Agnes Martin. In each piece Uttal begins with a freehand painted grid, usually of a single color. In a process she describes as both meditative and obsessive, sections of the paintings unfold for her, square by square, over several weeks.
Uttal has published and created several books combining text and imagery.
Her Painted Prayers (Tallfellow Press, 2002), which juxtaposed her original watercolors with spiritual writings from many traditions won the 2003 Nautilus Award for “distinguished literary contribution to conscious living and positive social change.”
Uttal studied fine art, painting and printmaking at Cornell University, from which she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She continued her art studies at the New York Studio School, and New York’s School of Visual Arts. Uttal's work has been exhibited at numerous art fairs including Art on Paper in New York. She shows at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York, and at BooHooray in Montauk, New York. Her work is included in numerous private collections.
Uttal resides in Los Angeles and maintains a studio in Santa Monica.