FRIDMAN GALLERY

Athena LaTocha's massive works on paper explore the relationship between human-made and natural worlds and incorporate materials such as ink, ash, lead, earth, and wood. LaTocha uses the power of weather and time to develop the intricate textures and undulating surfaces of her works, and often employs unusual tools such as shredded tires, bricks, and stones to further distress her compositions. Inspired by her upbringing in the wilderness of Alaska, her works are also informed by the mark-marking and displacement of materials made by industrial equipment and natural events. LaTocha’s immersive process responds to the storied and, at times, traumatic cultural histories that are rooted in places such as the Mississippi River, New York's World Trade Center, or the Trinity Site in New Mexico.

​

LaTocha has exhibited in institutions across the country, including the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts; CUE Art Foundation; Artists Space; South Dakota Art Museum; New Orleans Museum of Art; and the International Gallery of Contemporary Art in her native Anchorage, Alaska. In 2019, she had solo exhibitions at JDJ | The Ice house in Garrison, New York; the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota; and the MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

​

LaTocha is the recipient artist grants, residencies and awards, among them the Joan Mitchell Foundation in 2019 and 2016, Wave Hill in 2018, and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in 2013. LaTocha received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and MFA from Stony Brook University, New York.