Top left = Immanence, Gouache and
Graphite on Wood, 11” x 11” x 1”, 2010
Top right = Near, Gouache, Ink and Aquarelle on Wood, 8 ¼” x 16 ½” x 1”, 2011
Upper center left = self portrait
Upper center
right = Ox (for P.G.), Gouache, Ink and
Aquarelle on Wood, 10” x 10” x 1”, 2011
Center left
= Blue
Abstraction, Gouache, Ink and
Charcoal on Wood, 9 ½” x 9 ½” x 1”, 2011
Center right = Exhibition Image, SMALL SCALE
ABSTRACTION, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
Lower left (small light green-blue) = Radha, Gouache and
Aquarelle on Wood, 9” x 9” x 1”, 2011
Lower left
(small dark blue and black) = Binary,
Gouache and Ink on Wood, 9” x 9” x 1”, 2012
Lower right = Gnosis,
Gouache, Ink and Charcoal on Wood, 11” x 11” x 1”, 2010
"Inspired by daily life, art history and religious traditions such as Zen Buddhism and Quaker
Christianity, my paintings and drawings explore contemplative spiritual
experience. My work begins with the basic design and construction
materials of gouache and wood. Through the economical use of line,
color, texture and the illusion of light and space, I create a visual
dialogue between painted surface and wooden substrate. The resonance of
this interaction is at once expansively mysterious and intimately
familiar, an experience often associated with moments of contemplative
insight. Due to my content aspirations, this work belongs within the
American tradition of small- scale non-representational abstraction,
with artists like Georgia O’Keeffe, Agnes Martin and Richard Tuttle as
some of its precedents.
I believe that experiences of subtle structural beauty can be incredibly valuable. Because
they require quietude during a time of de-humanizing speed, clutter and
noise, they serve as both a foil to the frenetic activity of
contemporary life and as a method of sustenance within it."—Corey
Drieth, Artist
Corey Drieth was born and raised in Northern Colorado. He attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins where he received undergraduate degrees in Philosophy/Comparative Religious Studies and Studio Art. After serving as the Critic and Artist Residency Series (CAARS) coordinator for CSU’s Hatton Gallery, he attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina and received an MFA with a thesis in drawing/painting in 2004. Before joining the Visual and Performing Arts Department at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs in August 2007, Drieth taught studio art classes at CSU, the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia. His work has been exhibited throughout the country, including San Francisco, Chicago, Albuquerque, New Orleans, Washington DC and New York City.