Bonnie Maygarden | Too Close to the Sun

FERRARA SHOWMAN GALLERY

400A Julia St.

February 11 - April 4, 2026

Press Release

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.

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