Bonnie Maygarden - Too Close to the Sun

FERRARA SHOWMAN GALLERY is proud to present Too Close to the Sun, the fifth gallery solo exhibition of New Orleans-native, now Atlanta-based painter, Bonnie Maygarden. The exhibition will be on view 11 February through 4 April 2026 with an opening reception on 7 March and a closing reception on 4 April, both from 5-8 PM as part of the Arts District New Orleans’ First Saturday Gallery Openings.

Maygarden’s work is informed by and react to a culture defined by a digital experience. The imagery and perceived texture in her paintings is created entirely by hand, using only paint. Seemingly familiar to an eye accustomed to consuming images on a screen, the composition references digital technologies such as photography, x-rays, or Photoshop filters. The resulting abstract paintings employ natural phenomena to create the illusion of realism – calling to question the viewer’s expectations of the disposable contemporary image and the valued tradition of the handmade. 
 

Maygarden discusses the inspiration for her latest body of work . . .

Painting has always been a reaction to the technology of its time. Today, as AI reshapes our visual culture, the value of the handmade feels more vital—and more precarious—than ever. We stand at a tipping point, facing a future that is difficult to visualize, leaving me with a profound nostalgia for the tangible present.

My practice is an exploration of this tension. I lean into the “handmade” not as a rejection of the digital, but as a necessary representation of human perception. As Cézanne once noted, light cannot be reproduced; it must be represented through color. Through this alchemy of pigment and light, I seek to anchor the viewer in the physical world, asserting the power of the hand in a society defined by the digital.

Bonnie Maygarden is a multimedia artist who received her MFA in Studio Arts from Tulane University. She attended Pratt Institute in New York, where she received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts. Her work has been featured in exhibitions both nationally and internationally in various museums, galleries and alternative venues including: Université Lumière Lyons (Lyons, France), Camden Art Center (London, England), Pratt Institute, Icosahedron Gallery (New York, NY), Callenwolde Fine Arts Center (Atlanta, GA), The Front (New Orleans, LA) and New Orleans Creative Center for the Arts.

Several notable publications have featured Maygarden’s work; including, Gambit Weekly, New Orleans Homes and Lifestyles, Arts & Antiques Magazine, NOLA DEFENDER, and INVADE NOLA. Curator and art critic Tori Bush featured Maygarden’s Master’s thesis exhibition “Hyper Real” in her May 2013 Artist Spotlight. She also received an honorable mention for her work in UNO Visual Arts Leagues Juried Exhibition in 2013 from Miranda Lash, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Speed Museum and former Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Her work was reviewed in ArtForum and Burnaway for her inclusion in “Staring at the Sun” curated by Craig Drennan. Her paintings were also featured in New American Paintings (No. 112, June/July Issue) concurrently with her premier solo exhibition at Ferrara Showman Gallery entitled “Desert of the Real”, as well as Issue No. 124. Her work was selected twice for the Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s LA Contemporary Juried Exhibition, juried by Jonathan P. Binstock of Citi Private Bank Art Advisory & Finance (2014) and Courtney J  Martin Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Dia Foundation (2018) who awarded her work second place in the exhibition. Maygarden has been exhibited nationally at art fairs including:  Pulse New York, Miami Project for Art Basel Miami Beach, Texas Contemporary, Art Market San Francisco, the Seattle Art Fair, and VOLTA12 in Basel, Switzerland. In 2016, her work was featured in EXCHANGE, an international exhibition at Galerie Jochen Hempel, Berlin. Maygarden was also awarded a position at the Slade for the London Summer Intensive Residency Program 2016.

Maygarden’s work appears in the collections of former LACMA curator and current Perez Art Museum Director Franklin Sirmans (Miami), private collectors Lester Marks (Houston), Myrna Kaplan (Chicago) and Susan and Ralph Brennan (New Orleans), and corporate collections of Advantage Capital Management Corporation, RPM Casting and University Medical Center (New Orleans). Maygarden has been commissioned for Hollywood feature films by several production companies including: ABC Studios, Flashfire Productions, Danni Productions, Georgia Film Fund Seven, Abby Normal Pictures, Lamb Productions, Furlined, LLC and The Goats, LLC.

For more information, press or sales inquiries please contact Gallery Director Matthew Weldon Showman at 504.343.6827 or matthew@ferrarashowman.com. Please join the conversation with FSG on Instagram (@FerraraShowmanGallery) via the hashtags: #BonnieMaygarden #FerraraShowmanGallery, and #ArtsDistrictNewOrleans.