Artist Bio:

Born and raised in West Texas, Xan is a contemporary artist whose work is inspired by nature and recognized for its spontaneous and colorful mark-making.  

Xan graduated magna cum laude in 2005 from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas with a BA in Studio Art and a minor in Art History.  Over the last decade and a half, Koonce’s work has been represented by multiple galleries including Cerulean Gallery, Laura Rathe Fine Arts, Mary Tomas Gallery among others resulting in more than 20 solo and group exhibitions.  Her current work can be viewed at Cerulean Gallery in Snider Plaza, Dallas, Texas.

Artist Statement:

The desire to understand spirituality and its transformational power motivates my work.  My objective is to magnify nature beyond its literal meaning to explore the relationship between nature and spirituality.  

My interest is taking the beauty I see and abstracting it to gain greater insight.  Once inspired, I  apply seductive and radiant colors to my paintings as an expression of growth, strength, control and endurance.  As I paint, my primary concern is conveying a sensual experience through color, line and composition.

My paintings embody the synthesis of abstract expressionism with the palette of Matisse.  It is precisely this fusion of spontaneity and color that leads me to produce what I consider to be a rich and expressive body of work supported by my reverence for the power that beauty has to transform life.