Meet Kuzana Ogg

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kuzana Ogg.

Kuzana was born in Bombay in 1971. Her parents brought her home from the hospital on the back of their motorcycle, and she was a newborn mango nesting in her mother’s arms. On that ride, Kuzana first saw how the hurtling landscapes were marked by lines where fruit and glass, fabric and edifice meet. She strewed the highway behind them with vibrant origami as she dreamed.

The first years of her life were divided between the ancestral home of her grandfather, surrounded by lush gardens and groves of coconut trees, and her grandmother’s exquisite Worli sea face residence. Kuzana’s earliest memories are of temperate weather, fragrant jasmine blossoms, and cascading layers of color.

In time, Kuzana and her infant sister joined their newly immigrated parents in England. The setting changed from streets crammed with disorderly traffic and cows to cars neatly parked in rows, but Kuzana preferred the crumbling palatial structures that still lived in her mind to these frilly curtains and tidy brick homes. The new plastic toys at her feet became the rude complement of those of tin and copper that lay beside them.

Her tiffin tucked in her luggage, Kuzana shuttled in train cars to boarding schools in Cornwall, Surrey, and Kodaikanal. At the age of 10, she and her family relocated to New York, and the American metropolis took shape in those eyes where the Deccan plateau once stood.

It was as an art student at SUNY Purchase that Kuzana met her husband and began the work in love and paint of revisiting the garden of her childhood. They married after their graduation in 1995, and moved to South Korea, spending the next six years teaching English in historic Kyung Ju. Returning to the United States in 2001, they lived first in New Mexico, migrated to California’s Central Valley ten years later, and then returned to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2017.

Kuzana is currently in residence at El Zaguan on Canyon Road. She has participated in three other residencies: in Minnesota, Sri Lanka and China. In 2018, Kuzana will be the Cromarty Arts Trust international artist in residence. Her paintings have been included on the sets of both television shows and feature films—the most recent of which were Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Southpaw and My All-American.

Kuzana’s first solo museum exhibition was Oil at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art in 2014. A second solo followed shortly thereafter, Rev Zero at the Bakersfield Museum of Art in 2015. Kuzana’s work has been exhibited, published, and collected both privately and publically, nationally and internationally.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Since 2007, I have been able to dedicate all my time and effort into developing as a painter. This has been a luxury that I cherish.

What were you like growing up?
Very interested in fashion, textile design, knitting, batik, embroidery etc. Have always loved to travel.

Contact Info:

• Address: 237 5th Avenue North Nashville, TN, 37219 (Tinney Contemporary)
  114 Southwest Boulevard Kansas City, MO 64108 (Weinberger Fine Art)
  4523 Liberty Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15224 (Boxheart Gallery)
  1412 Wazee St Denver, CO 80202 (K Contemporary)
• Phone: (615) 255-7816 (Tinney Contemporary) (816) 301-4428 (Weinberger Fine Art)
  412.687.8858 (Boxheart Gallery), 303-590-9800 (K Contemporary)
• Website: KuzanaOgg.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kuzanaogg/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kuzana.ogg

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