Jan. 7, 2016 – Feb. 21, 2016

Claudia McNulty at the Porch Gallery Ojai

Mary Was A Little Lamb, latex paint on canvas


“Our emotions and thoughts are being affected by both the foods and drugs, as well as the electromagnetic atmosphere surrounding us. Primal needs and fears are manipulated through advertising and media creating false paradigms, obsessions and desires.

“The genetically modified food, (GMO) we consume, without our knowledge or consent, is mutating our very DNA. Our thyroid and pineal glands are being destroyed by fluoride in our water. Our air is a chemical stew. Why and how we are affected by all of this remains to be seen. We are now witnessing a rapacious degrading of our natural environment and personal civil liberties. For this reason, I am drawn to using the printed word and a carnival graphic format to confront and explore the territory that I find coercive and nightmare-ish.”

-Claudia McNulty


Porch Gallery Ojai presents Hubris, selected works by Hudson River Valley artist Claudia McNulty. Pulling together such elements as encyclopedia-styled illustrations,text and elements of periodic tables, McNulty’s work addresses the negative influence that modern science has had against nature. Her laughing clowns and carnival imagery belie the seriousness of her message that “we are now witnessing a rapacious degrading of our natural environment.” The stylistic elements of Mary Was A Little Lamb could pass as a retro advertisement for an event at a state fair. McNulty’s dying corn in the field and text, “it followed her to school…which was against the rules,” renders the piece as a critical look into authoritarianism, genetically modified crops and the hubris that comes before the fall.

Claudia McNulty attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Boston Museum School and Tufts University, and one defining semester at The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

She has exhibited her work at many notable venues including The Drawing Center, White Columns, and Condeso Lawler Gallery. McNulty was the recipient of a traveling Fellowship Grant from The Boston Museum School and included in the American Academy of Arts and Letters 2015 Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts. She currently resides and works at home in the hamlet of Climax in upstate New York.


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