< Back to Directory

Patricia Buck

Painting, Visual / Media

My art practice is informed by decades of studio work, art historical research, and metaphysical inquiry. Rather than relying on representational narrative, or quotidian experience, I use color, visual rhythm and spatial tension to evoke a subliminal, physiological response from the viewer.

My work is developed during focused studio sessions when color, psychological perception and physical engagement meet in the process seen in my work. Meaning emerges as color, marks and composition develop visual relationships which transcend words.

About the Artist

Patricia Buck is an American abstract painter based in Maryland, known for large-scale color field paintings and mixed-media works exploring the representation of phenomenal energy.   Her work was purchased by Joe Hirshhorn in 1981 and is documented in the Hirshhorn Museum collection.  In 2025, Patricia was the recipient of a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.  

Patricia Buck website To Purchase Art Patricia Buck website Patricia Buck Art on Artwork Archive Patricia Buck website Saatchiart.com

Artist's Statement

Patricia Buck is an American abstract painter based in Maryland, known for her large-scale color field paintings, and mixed-media work addressing the female experience, social issues, and phenomenal energy. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Experimental Studio from Howard University, College of Art in Washington, D.C. (1996), and a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art from the University of Maryland, College Park, (1972). Patricia’s recent work has been curated or juried into multiple exhibitions in 2025-26, including “Something Hidden” at the 2026 East City Regional Exhibition in Washington, DC; “Stasis”, at the 2025 Howard County Arts Council Biennial exhibition; two group exhibitions at Columbia Art Center (2025); “Zeros and Ones” exhibited at the Towson Arts Collective (2025); and Bull’s-eye exhibited in Women Artists of the DMV. Joseph Hirshhorn purchased her early torn paper painting ‘Demons without Faces’ in 1981, which is documented in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The State of Colorado purchased two of her works for their Art in Public Places collections, (1998, 1999) and her work is held in private collections in Seattle, New York, Chicago, the District of Columbia, Maryland and California. In 2025, Patricia received a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. Previously, she has been the recipient of five grants from the District of Columbia Commission for the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH), including two Individual Artist grants (1995, 1993), and three Technical Assistance grants (1994, 1993, 1991). The Arlington Arts Council awarded her a grant to support her work (1991) and Robert Rauschenberg’s Foundation Change Inc funded her art with a grant (1991). After her painting Bull’s-eye was curated by F. Lenny Campello into the 2025 Survey of Women Artists in the DMV, Patricia was invited to develop a solo exhibition at Artists and Makers Studios in North Bethesda, MD for 2027  

Featured Work

Photos

This composition shifts from luminous clarity to atmospheric depth as circular forms advance and recede. Layered glazing and translucent color create a quiet structure where improvisation unfolds without narrative.
This painting is included in the Howard County Art Biennial at the Howard County Arts Council, an exhibition juried by Liz Henzey, director of the Columbia Art Center. Created in a restrained palette, this work departs from my typically saturated color fields. Muted hues, geometric forms, and ordered patterns coalesce into a unified, translucent composition. It illuminates unseen patterns which connect us to each other and the systems around us. Price listed is unframed. A custom walnut float frame is available made for this piece. Framed, $1900.
This vivid, energetic abstract work emphasizes undulating, organic forms outlined in layers of electric: neon yellow, magenta, blue, orange, and purple, layered and bordered in contrasting hues. Evoking motion—the concentric ovals, loops, and biomorphic shapes pulse across the canvas. Small dots scattered over the painting, add texture and rhythm— and a dark background grounds the intensity of the saturated colors, creating a sense of depth and mystery.
In Power Form II, Patricia translates the energy of motion into a striking visual form. Sweeping graphite lines and dense passages of India ink traverse the surface, creating a tension between delicate details and force. The drawing unfolds as an orchestration of movement—as marks surge, collide, and dissolve—capturing the raw immediacy of gesture in a single sustained act of expression. Working on a scale more often reserved for painting, this work expands the language of drawing into a realm of physical experience. The surface bears evidence of pressure, release, and revision, revealing both the artist’s control and her willingness to surrender to the spontaneous flow of line. Areas of deep black anchor the composition, while lighter, fluid gestures evoke breath and lightness. Created in 1982, Power Form II exemplifies Buck’s early engagement with abstraction as a living process—one that balances energy and restraint, material and spirit. It is a meditation on power as a natural, dynamic state rather than an imposed force, offering viewers a direct encounter with the vitality of mark-making itself. This drawing was selected by MaryBeth Edelson for inclusion in the exhibition Woman as Myth and Archetype at the Washington Women's Art Center in 1982, and was published in a catalog by the same name. Power Form II exhibited again in 2018 at the Alper Initiative for Washington Art in the Washington Women's Art Center Retrospective at American University, Katzen Art Gallery Museum, American University, Washington DC, and is included in a full color catalog by the same name. The work is currently mounted on archival mat board attached to a structured wood backing without glazing.
Zeros and Ones explores the translation of sensation into signal. Luminous yellow activates a field punctuated with spontaneous marks, so color and gesture function as it's own language.
Minimalist in appearance, Ch’ien-Magenta Light with Copper has six richly textured bars that float above a luminous magenta field. The contrast of the structure in the hexagram and the light emanating from behind creates a structured and mysterious tension.

Videos

  • This is the surface of the painting Lagoon.

    See more information about This is the surface of the painting Lagoon.
    This is the surface of one of my favorite paintings, Lagoon. It is painted on a heavy printmaker's paper and measures 50"H x 38" W. This piece was painted with my hands and the surface is richly textured, it feels almost like polished leather
    Medium: Acrylic
    Year: 1989
    Details: 50"H x 38"W

Written Works