Anna Glantz


Anna Glantz is an American contemporary painter whose work combines psychological tension with a formal sensitivity to color and composition. Based in Los Angeles, Glantz has exhibited internationally in London, New York, Berlin, Oslo, and Los Angeles. Her paintings, often defined by a melancholic and deliberate tone, explore the limits of figuration and the psychological possibilities embedded in formal decision-making.

Early life and education

Anna Glantz was born in 1989 in Concord, Massachusetts. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Art from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2011 and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Columbia University in 2014. In 2009, she studied Film and Media Studies at the University of Copenhagen, an experience that would later inform her measured sense of pacing and structure within painting.

Career and work

Glantz's work is characterized by a restrained, melancholic tone and a precise formal language. While her paintings often stage figures and interiors that suggest a psychological charge, her primary concern lies in the formal negotiations between color, composition, and gesture. Each canvas operates as a site of tension—between stillness and movement, depiction and construction—revealing the painting process itself as a form of psychological theatre.
Across exhibitions such as Baby Grand, Cement Answers, and Lichens, Glantz has developed an increasingly refined vocabulary that builds cumulatively from one series to the next. Her compositions balance ambiguity and structure, using subtle shifts in hue and scale to create atmospheres that feel both deliberate and unstable. Critics have noted her ability to distill complex emotional registers through formal means rather than explicit narrative content.
Engaging art-historical precedents as diverse as Balthus, Pieter Bruegel, and Ivan Morley, Glantz's work situates itself within an ongoing dialogue about the elasticity of figuration and the material logic of paint. Though based in Los Angeles, her exhibitions in London, New York, and Berlin reflect a transatlantic perspective, positioning her among a generation of painters re-examining the psychological and formal capacities of the medium.

Selected solo exhibitions

  • 2025: Knowing what you know, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2023: Lichens, The Approach, London, UK
  • 2022: Cement Answers, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2020: Baby Grand, The Approach, London, UK
  • 2019: Cyclops, Foxy Production, New York, NY
  • 2018: Anna Glantz, PAGE, New York, NY
  • 2016: Stones for Sandman, 11R, New York, NY
  • 2015: Horse in the Road, Topless, Rockaway Beach, NY

Selected group exhibitions

  • 2025: Surface Streets, Marian Goodman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2024: Trespass sweetly urged, Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany
  • 2022: A Minor Constellation, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2021: Therein / Thereof / Thereto, Standard, Oslo, Norway
  • 2020: A Love Letter to a Nightmare, Petzel Gallery, New York, NY
  • 2019: Portraits, Foxy Production, New York, NY
  • 2016: Intimisms, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY

Awards

  • 2016: Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant
  • 2013: Andrew Fisher Fellowship
  • 2012: Dong Kingman Fellowship
  • 2011: Hoyt Scholarship

Selected press

  • “The Best of 2023: According to 6 Painters Who Defined It.” Ocula, 21 December 2023.
  • “Anna Glantz – Lichens at The Approach, East London.” The Organ’'zine, 9 November 2023.
  • Benson, Louise. “These Are the Artists You Need to Know Right Now.” Elephant Magazine, 3 October 2020.
  • Dafoe, Taylor, and Tim Schneider. “Best Buys: Eight Artists at Independent to Collect for under $15,000.” Artnet News, 7 March 2019.
  • Westberg, Owen. “An Interview with New York Painter Anna Glantz.” WhiteHot Magazine, December 2016.
  • Smith, Roberta. “Intimisms.” The New York Times, 8 July 2016.