News — Laura Catherwood

Spring is here, bringing with it renewal, hope and the promise of brighter days ahead. This year’s spring season also brings Laura Catherwood’s luminous “Sunshower,” the second installment in our Vertical Collectors Club series.

“Sunshower,” which is available starting today, takes its title from the meteorological phenomenon during which rain falls while the sun is shining. Sunshower conditions often culminate in the appearance of a rainbow, provided the sun is at a sufficiently low angle. 

“You don’t see sunshowers too often, and when they're happening, it takes you out of the mundane, everyday moment you’re having. Suddenly, you’re in a more sublime space,” Laura says. “I wanted to capture that magical feeling.”

Magical feelings are the essence of Laura’s mysterious, often mournful paintings. “Each piece starts as this inner feeling that takes shape as movement — a gesture, like when you're feeling an emotion,” she explains in her recent monograph Gestures from the Field. “My work is an expression of the real world, not a world of my own making. It's like magical realism in fiction: there are strange, surreal things that happen, but they still happen in this world, not some other world.”  

The strange, surreal things happening in “Sunshower” include a deer in flight — an image that nods to Laura’s earlier “Flying Lesson (Dawn),” featured in Vertical’s September 2025 exhibition ‘The Scenic Route,’ which preceded the artist’s move from her native Chicago to Rochester, N.Y. The gravity-defying creature depicted in “Sunshower” embodies the painting’s central theme of sublimation, the chemical process of transitioning from solid to gas without passing through the liquid phase. 

“There are moments in life that take you out of your solid state and transport you to another, more abstract plane, and that’s what’s happening to the deer,” Laura says. “The deer in the sky is the gaseous deer. The deer on the ground is the solid deer. The deer-like cloud shape is a purely abstract, celestial version of a deer that's not grounded in any way. The deer on the ground is standing in all this water, and there's water pouring down, but because of sublimation, there's still the possibility of exiting the situation — being immediately lifted out of it, and going from your current state to something better.” 

Sublimation is also a type of defense mechanism, transforming socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations into socially acceptable actions or behavior.

“Sublimation redirects negative behavior from negative emotions towards something positive, like art or some other productive activity,” Laura says. “There's just so much negative stuff out there, and so much awfulness happening. ‘Sunshower’ is a reminder that you can take all these overwhelming feelings and redirect them towards something wonderful.”

“Sunshower” marks the continuation of the Vertical Collectors Club, a limited-edition print series featuring exclusive seasonal-themed releases commissioned from the gallery’s favorite artists. Laura’s print is signed and numbered in an edition of just 25 copies, and sized at 16 by 20 inches — perfect for standard frames. Like it did with Jerome Tiuyanan’s “Better Half,” which kicked off the VCC project, Vertical will also offer Laura’s original “Sunshower” oil on panel for sale in conjunction with the print edition.

Click here to purchase.

Shop artwork from Laura Catherwood here.

It’s been less than three months since Laura Catherwood co-headlined the Vertical Gallery group show ‘The Scenic Route’ opposite Joseph Renda Jr. and Jerome Tiunayan. But in that time, the painter and illustrator published her first book, the career retrospective ‘Gestures from the Field,’ and relocated from her native Chicago to bucolic Rochester, N.Y. Last but not least, she’s one of 13 artists exhibiting with Vertical at Aqua Art Miami 2025. 

Laura updates us on her new life and previews her newest work in the latest installment of our Artist Spotlight series. 

Vertical Gallery: Tell us about the work you’re showing at Aqua Art Miami 2025. 

Laura Catherwood: It’s essentially a direct follow-up to my ‘Scenic Route’ body of work. There are eight pieces: two 20-inch by 30-inch oil paintings, and six 11-inch by 14-inch drafting film drawings. ‘The Scenic Route’ also combined larger oil paintings and drafting film drawings, but that collection was about setting out on an adventure; it was the end of part one. This is the start of part two. The animals are a little deeper in, and it’s like “How do we find our way around here?”

All the drawings are titled “They're Always With You,” and each one has its own [parenthetical] title, which comes from whatever activity is happening in the drawings. All the pieces feature a main animal, and then in the background, there are blue animals alongside them. I wanted those blue animals to feel kind of ghostly and separate physically, so I added another sheet of drafting film. Instead of three layers [of drafting film], there are now five, because each sheet adds a front and a back, which gives each piece so much more depth. 

The inspiration behind “They're Always With You” is our Chicago community. My husband and I extracted ourselves from that community to come to Rochester, but all those people are still with us. We're still supporting what they're doing, and their efforts still affect us. There’s togetherness despite the distance. The title also ties back to grief, the ongoing theme of my work. People you care about may be physically gone, but they're always there with you. 

Are the creatures in these new paintings and drawings native to upstate New York?

Yes. The animals are also native to the Midwest, which connects this body of work to ‘The Scenic Route’ — the fox is a key character in both. But there are different birds and plants involved. One of the large paintings in the last show was a great blue heron, and instead of just using that bird again, I chose to use the great white egret, which is also found in Florida, so I thought the Aqua people would like it, too.

What are your initial impressions of your new environment?

It's an autumn wonderland. The foliage has just been insane. We live in a historic district, and sometimes I think I might be in a coma, because this is exactly the neighborhood environment that my brain would dream up for me. It's so beautiful. Everyone is so nice.

A big move like this drudges up a lot of big feelings, especially after living someplace for so long. It makes you intensely aware of what's most important in life. This moment is also very special because it's almost like the quarantine times, where no one's expecting me to be anywhere at any given moment. I have complete freedom over how I spend each day. It's like entering a new zone in a video game.

It’s difficult being away from the Chicago art community, though. With Instagram, I can still see what everyone's up to, but the thing with art is that it's always more amazing in person. It stings to miss out on [Chicago gallery] openings, but that’s one reason why I’m so grateful to go to Aqua: I’ll get to see some of my friends’ work there. And there are new people to get to know here in Rochester. I already found an artist I love.

Will viewers recognize Rochester’s impact on the work you’re exhibiting in Miami?

I don't think it’s a stark difference. It's still very much me and what I do. I'm still the same person — I’m just moving forward.

Shop artwork from Laura Catherwood here.

Laura Catherwood’s mysterious, often mournful paintings and pencil illustrations capture the landscape of her inner world, where fauna, flora and the fantastic coalesce.

Laura exhibited in Vertical Gallery group shows like ‘Atomic Number 13’ and ‘Water the Plants!’ ahead of 2022’s ‘Book of Yielding,’ her first solo showcase in our space. ‘Hearsay’ followed a year later, and Laura graced Vertical’s main showroom again in 2024 with ‘All Things Stirring.’ She’s also served as gallery manager since January 2021.

From Sept. 5-27, Laura co-headlines the group show ‘The Scenic Route’ alongside fellow Chicago-based painters/Vertical teammates Joseph Renda Jr. and Jerome Tiunayan. In the latest installment of Vertical’s Artist Spotlight series, Laura previews her contributions to ‘The Scenic Route,’ shares her appreciation for a West Town landmark and takes us inside the pages of her new career retrospective book ‘Gestures from the Field.’ 

Vertical Gallery: Tell us about your contributions to ‘The Scenic Route.’ 

Laura Catherwood: The pieces I'm putting in this show are a love note to Humboldt Park, which is the natural refuge within Chicago that I've lived across from for the last 12 years. It means a lot to me to have this beautiful lagoon and prairie preserve right next door, in the middle of the big city. I genuinely love standing on the bridge and watching the baby ducks walk on the lily pads.

The animals in these paintings all take a unique path of movement to find a different perspective. For example, in one pair of paintings, there’s a deer and a fox floating above the prairie. I wanted to capture the specific feeling of Humboldt Park, so I went there every day for a week straight for reference portraits — specifically, when the sun was at the angle I wanted, during the golden hour [the period shortly after sunrise or before sunset, when daylight is its reddest and softest]. One time, I was able to photograph some rabbits to use their fur and their backlighting as reference for other animals; another time, my husband Bryan held up a blank panel while I took reference photos of the individual plants. 

It’s all about making the work as genuine as I could. These are my neighbors, and they deserve to be honored. 

Please answer the same question we asked Jerome: What goes into a group show like ‘The Scenic Route,’ especially when you’re working alongside close colleagues?

We're far more connected as a group than your typical group show. The combination itself makes it a very cohesive show, even though we have three distinct styles. We all share this love of the natural world, and a lot of care goes into our painting technique. There’s also calmness, I think, in all our pieces. They have a tranquility to them.

We didn't coordinate with each other what we were going to paint. We painted the things we wanted to paint, but they were naturally going to work together well. The grouping itself was the intentional part. 

You’re about to publish a book. Tell us about it.

‘Gestures from the Field’ includes my paintings from ‘The Scenic Route’ all the way back to 2019, when I first showed this kind of work in a gallery. It made sense to release it now, because the book as a whole is also a gesture of appreciation and love for the environment surrounding me. 

Looking back like this isn't something I usually do. When you're making something, you just focus on that thing: I only think of things one body of work at a time, and once I'm done, I'm thinking about the next one. But It's interesting to see how things get honed, and the direction they go — what sticks when I experiment with something, and what doesn't. Every time I make something, I do something a little bit differently, so it’s pretty cool to watch that progression in one swoop.

I also got to re-explore where my mind was when I was making this work. You might think it'd be hard to put yourself back in the frame of mind of something you made five years ago, but it was actually very easy to remember the things I was thinking and feeling, and how they made their way into my art. 

What’s on the horizon?

My next body of work will be coming at Aqua Art Miami 2025 with Vertical Gallery, and in March, I have a solo exhibition at South Shore Arts in Indiana, plus my usual group shows. 

I'm also painting nine murals around the city of Chicago. They are snapshots of invasive species that are being studied by Dr. Gabriela C. Nunez-Mir from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She received a Walder Foundation grant for her research on invasive species, and the grant involves a public outreach component, so that's why I'm painting them for her. They're each very small — three-and-a-half by four feet. They're mini-murals, really.

Vertical Gallery, Chicago’s premier urban-contemporary art gallery, is very proud to present ‘The Scenic Route,’ a special group show celebrating the talents of Joseph Renda Jr., Laura Catherwood and Jerome Tiunayan.

‘The Scenic Route,’ on display Sept. 5-27, commemorates Vertical’s steadfast commitment to creativity and camaraderie: Renda, Catherwood and Tiunayan are not only mainstays of the gallery’s programming slate, but all three Chicago painters play significant roles in its day-to-day operations. Renda began assisting visiting artists and supporting show installs in May 2016; Catherwood signed on as gallery manager in January 2021; and Tiunayan joined the team part-time in October 2024, soon after relocating from his native Brooklyn.  

“It is an absolute pleasure having these incredibly talented, trustworthy artists in shows and working with them at the gallery,” says Vertical owner and curator Patrick Hull. “Some galleries would call ‘The Scenic Route’ three solo shows, but we call it what it is — a group show allowing these three to exhibit their strongest work to date.” 

About each artist: 

• Joe Renda juxtaposes realistic images with audacious surrealistic flourishes to illuminate the interconnectedness of all living things. In addition to headlining two solo gallery shows, 2020’s ‘Biophilia’ and 2022’s ‘Larger Than Life,’ he curated Vertical group shows including ‘Water the Plants!’ and both installments of ‘Atomic Number 13.’ 
  
  Renda’s contributions to ‘The Scenic Route’ explore themes of visual perception via arch-shaped panels painted like windows. “There’s a bird in each painting, and the bird represents the story each painting tells,” he says. “There’s a trompe-l'œil aspect to the windows. It feels like you could fall through them.” 
  
  

• Laura Catherwood’s mysterious, often mournful images unpack her inner world, where fauna, flora and the fantastic coalesce. A series of group show appearances predated her 2022 Vertical Gallery solo debut ‘Book of Yielding.’ ‘Hearsay’ followed in late 2023, and six months later, Catherwood returned with ‘All Things Stirring.’ Her contributions to ‘The Scenic Route’ summon energy and inspiration from the golden hour — the interval between sunrise and sunset. 

• Jerome Tiunayan synthesizes personal storytelling, comics-inspired illustration and gallows humor to recast the Hero’s Journey for our postmodern age. Tiunayan first appeared at Vertical as part of 2024’s Summer Group Show, and resurfaced at year’s end for the annual Holiday Group Show. He was most recently featured in the gallery’s 12-Year Anniversary Show. Tiunayan’s contributions to ‘The Scenic Route’ continue the misadventures of his irrepressible signature character and the boy’s trusted canine sidekick. 

Credit Renda for giving ‘The Scenic Route’ its title. “Nature draws the three of us together,” he explains. “We all tell stories we want viewers to stop and look at, and that’s what a scenic route is about — taking the long road to stop and look at things, and experience things.”   

All three artists featured in ‘The Scenic Route’ will be in attendance for Friday, Sept. 5’s opening-night reception, running from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Vertical’s flagship West Town location (2006 W. Chicago Ave. #1R; enter via the alley off Damen Avenue). This December, Vertical will showcase Renda, Catherwood and Tiunayan alongside seven other acclaimed artists at Aqua Art Miami 2025; stay tuned for more details. 

Vertical Gallery is very excited to return to the Miami Art Fairs! We will be returning to the AQUA Art Fair this year with an all-star group show featuring: ADi (AU), 2CHOEY (TH), Jake and Josh (US), Steve Seeley (US), Flog (FR), Laura Catherwood (US), Louis (Masai) Michel (UK), Collin van der Sluijs (NL), Sergio Farfán (US), and Blake Jones (US).

VIEW THE SHOW HERE

ADi is an Australian contemporary artist renowned for creating totemic wooden assemblages that explore society's fixation on popular culture, brand recognition, and nostalgia. His distinctive works, often referred to as "false idols" or pop cultural artefacts, reimagine traditional religious iconography, positioning modern cultural symbols as new-age deities in place of the ancient worship of nature and gods. His practice uniquely intersects sculpture and designer toy art, extending into modern interior and object design, offering a fresh take on the cultural artefacts of our time.

2CHOEY is a Bangkok based self-taught artist. With a background is in Urban Architecture, 2CHOEY was an art director in an ad agency. He soon started selling paintings and realized he enjoyed painting more than working in advertising. 2CHOEY’s signature characters, ‘Fingies’, reinterprets pop culture icons within the framework of hands, fists and fingers in his playful and very unique style. Vertical presented his first USA solo show in 2023, and also presented a solo show at the Urban Art Fair in Paris.

Flog discovered a passion for drawing at an early age. He studied graphic design at the Pivaut Nantes school and made it his profession, finding his balance in producing work from illustration to the publishing world. Inspired by graffiti and pop culture, Flog's mixed media technique- aerosol spray, acrylic, and oil on road signs or canvas- reveals precision in the details. Flog’s show with Vertical at SCOPE Miami sold out in 2023. He has also had sold-out shows in Paris, Rome, and Taiwan.

Jake and Josh are a dynamic duo of twin artists who have captivated audiences with their unique blend of creativity and sibling synergy. Their work often explores the intersection of playful storytelling and creative line work, resulting in thought-provoking pieces. Their intricate attention to detail and meticulous craftsmanship invite viewers to immerse themselves in the layers of meaning within each work.

Laura Catherwood is a Chicago-based painter focused on delicately emotive illustration of plants, animals, and quiet creatures. The sense of an intimate, mysterious narrative in her work invites contemplation and extends empathy to the viewer. With soft textures and sensitive gestures, she diagrams our ambiguous feelings toward the natural order of things.

Louis (Masai) Michel is a UK-based painter, sculptor and muralist. He uses his art in the form of murals, paintings and installations as a way to highlight climate change and species equality. The subject or species, is created in the style of a cuddly plush toy, thus highlighting that if one doesn't preserve the existence of the species depicted, only toys and souvenirs will remain. Within the composition of the species are intricate details exploring cultural fabrics, popular culture and elements of conservation. 

Collin van der Sluijs is a renowned painter and illustrator from Maastricht, The Netherlands, where he lives and works. He is widely recognized for his extraordinary dream-like depictions of everyday stories that question our personal pleasures and struggles, as well as society at large. Collin’s exceptional work has been published in magazines and books, and shown in galleries across the world—in The Netherlands, Germany, France, England, Belgium, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain, and USA.

Sergio Farfán blends the experiences from his hometown in Peru with the life he’s lived in Chicago to create works that focus on the struggles, dreams, and emotions that people go through in their life. Farfán began to draw as a form of therapy as he struggled through his anxiety. Whatever was troubling him or whenever he just wanted to forget what was going on in the world around him, he found refuge in his art and would draw his favorite cartoon characters he would see on TV.  

Steve Seeley is an artist whose work draws inspiration from a wide range of pop culture sources including superheroes, celebrities, cartoons and comic books. Technically gifted, his artistic practice spans multiple media with a fresh sense of experimentation. His work has been exhibited throughout the US and is held in private collections worldwide.

Blake Jones is a Chicago based artist. Blake’s use of graphic line work and bright color palettes illustrates narratives of complex worlds inhabited by his own iconic characters, objects, and landscapes. Blake’s work has been exhibited in multiple mediums and forms such as print, paintings, gallery exhibitions, sculptures, and murals.

Aqua Art Miami at the Aqua Hotel
1530 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139
Vertical Gallery Room 107

VIP Preview:
Wednesday, December 4 | 3pm-10pm

Public Hours:
Thursday, December 5 | 12pm - 9pm
Friday, December 6 | 11am - 9pm
Saturday, December 7 | 11am - 9pm
Sunday, December 8 | 11am - 6pm

A collector's preview will be sent out Saturday November 30th. Email us to be added to the preview list. Note: Some works will be available in-person only. If you need a VIP pass for the fair, please email us.