BIO

Christine Mottau (born 1964) is an American painter and abstract artist whose work explores spirituality, transformation, grief, and the relationship between inner and outer landscapes. She has exhibited continuously throughout the United States since the 1980s and maintains an active studio practice in New York City and Spencertown, New York.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in New York City and Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, Mottau studied at the Art Institute of Boston and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her work is characterized by luminous layers of oil paint, atmospheric color fields, and dynamic abstract forms that investigate perception, consciousness, and emotional experience.

Since 2005, Mottau has been represented by Ceres Gallery in New York, where she has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Over the course of her career she has exhibited paintings, drawings, and paper sculptures in galleries throughout the United States. In addition to her studio practice, she has curated exhibitions including ITZYBITZY at Lazy Susan Gallery in 2020 and Hysterical at Ceres Gallery in 2021.

Mottau is best known for her abstract oil paintings, which draw inspiration from chakra meditation theory, the natural world, and contemplative traditions. Through nuanced color relationships, layered surfaces, and spatial ambiguity, her paintings suggest landscapes that are simultaneously psychological and environmental. Her compositions occupy a threshold between interior consciousness and external perception, creating immersive spaces that invite reflection and contemplation.

Themes of spiritual transcendence, memory, loss, and renewal recur throughout her work. Rather than depicting these subjects directly, Mottau evokes them through gesture, luminosity, and the slow accumulation of translucent and opaque layers of paint. Her paintings often reveal themselves gradually, encouraging sustained viewing and rewarding close attention with subtle shifts in color, atmosphere, and form.

In addition to painting, Mottau has created extensive bodies of work in drawing and paper sculpture. Across media, her practice reflects a sustained interest in transformation—of material, perception, and emotional states.

Mottau’s work has been discussed in exhibition reviews and arts publications and is recognized for its exploration of abstraction as a vehicle for emotional and metaphysical experience. Through a practice spanning more than four decades, she has remained committed to creating contemplative works that investigate the ineffable dimensions of human experience.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2025 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2023 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2021 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2020 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2020 - Lazy Susan Gallery, New York, NY

2019 - Lazy Susan Gallery, New York, NY

2019 - ICFF, New York, NY

2018 - Launch F18, Peterborough, NH

2017 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2015 - North River Gallery, Chatham, NY

2014 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2010 - Launch Art Gallery, Peterborough, NH

2008 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2006 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2004 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2003 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2000 - Sax Gallery, Boston, MA

1998 - On Columbus Gallery, Boston, MA

1998 - Ariel Gallery, New York, NY

1998 - Sax Gallery, Boston, MA

1997 - Ariel Gallery, New York, NY

1996 - Ariel Gallery, New York, NY

1996 - New Hampshire Art Association, Concord, NH

1993 - Harvard Square Art Center, Cambridge, MA

1992 - Ariel Gallery, New York, NY

1991 - Ariel Gallery, New York, NY

1990 - Ariel Gallery, New York, NY

1987 - English Gallery, Peterborough, NH

1986 - English Gallery, Peterborough, NH

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026- Raising Women’s Voices, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2024- Raising Women’s Voices, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2024- Spring Affair, Spencertown Academy Art Center, Spencertown, NY

2023- War on Women, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2021- Where we are now, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2019 - Launch F18, Peterborough, NH

2018 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2017 - Lazy Susan Gallery, New York, NY

2017 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2016 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2014 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2013 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2012 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2011 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2009 - Long Beach Art Museum, Long Beach, NJ

2008 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2006 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2004 - Ceres Gallery, New York, NY

2000 - Sax Gallery, Boston, MA

1999 - On Columbus Gallery, Boston, MA

1997 - Amherst Artist Guild, Amherst, NH

1997 - Harvard Square Art Center, Cambridge, MA

1996 - Ariel Gallery, New York, NY

1995 - New Hampshire Art Association, Concord, NH

1994 - Ariel Gallery, New York, NY

1992 - Harvard Square Art Center, Cambridge, MA

1991 - Ariel Gallery, New York, NY

1990 - Sax Gallery, Boston, MA

1989 - On Columbus Gallery, Boston, MA

1988 - New Hampshire Art Association, Concord, NH

1986 - English Gallery, Peterborough, NH

1986 - On Columbus Gallery, Boston, MA

1985 - Amherst Artist Guild, Amherst, NH

1985 - New Hampshire Art Association, Concord, NH

Selected curatorial projects

2021- Hysterical, Ceres Gallery, NYC.

2020- ITZY BITZY, Lazy Susan Gallery, NYC.