Paula Bullwinkel: Everything That Rises Must Converge

Transmission Gallery is pleased to present Everything That Rises Must Converge, recent paintings by Paula Bullwinkel, on view in the Small Space at Transmission from February 27 – April 12. The gallery will host a Closing Reception with Artist’s Talk on April 12th. The reception will be 3-5 pm with the Artist’s Remarks at 4.

The title of the show may sound familiar. Our universal resource, Wikipedia, states that Everything That Rises Must Converge refers to (without endorsing) a work by the French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin titled the Omega Point. Chardin’s story, addresses racism in the framework of Chardin’s belief that human beings are in the process of evolving toward higher levels of consciousness, with cosmic implications.
“Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge.” ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
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A figurative painter, Bullwinkel present us with mysterious and allegorical protagonists operating in a baffling space with improbable scenarios. They in fact might well represent our personal experiences dealing with the events of the day. Are we thrown off kilter? How do we make sense of distortions and nonsensical narratives?

Often in Bullwinkel’s paintings, pattern and color obfuscate orientation to a specific location allowing the cast of characters to take center stage, as if in a play, one in which the outcome is unknown. Though we can make certain predictions about what might happen in the dream-sphere here, there is ample room to make unexpected interpretations.

The milieu within which Bullwinkel paints is well put by Shana Nys Dambrot in I’ll Be Your Mirror, a 2023 review of Bullwinkel’s work:
“Equally influenced by literature and film flirting with the multiverse, and channeling art historical tactics of the late Impressionists and Fauvists, the Leipzig School, Rauch, and Eisenman, Bullwinkel finds herself in a place both archetypal and futuristic. The strangeness of her assembled elements is contextualized within a world of imagery that is recognizable enough to be familiar, but strange and saturated with enough detail to invite interpretation.”
​~ Shana Nys Dambrot
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As a professional fashion and portrait photographer for twenty years in London and New York, Bullwinkel was often privy to the absurdities of life as well as the glamour and not so glamorous side of the scene. Notable subjects include a young Kate Moss, Kevin Bacon, and Morgan Freeman. Her work was included in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, among other publications, and on album covers for popular artists. Eventually Bullwinkel moved away from photography, turning her creative impulses to painting and print making. Still photography remains an enduring element as she often pulls imagery from her photographs into the cryptic symbolic narratives that are the hallmark of her work.