Patagonia artist Paula Wittner’s most recent works are featured in a solo show called “It’s a Matter of Time” on now at La Linea gallery in Nogales.
Where does the title come from? “So many thoughts come into all my paintings,” Wittner explained. “And I put so much time into them, and the thoughts become matter, an actual thing, a painting.”
As for time, take the portrait she painted of Evan Kory, the concert pianist who has re-invented Nogales into an arts area and who was the first artist-in-residence here in Patagonia at the Opera House for the Santa Cruz Foundation for the Performing Arts. Kory said he actually sat for that painting for “maybe 20 hours or so, six or seven sittings. It was fascinating to witness her process from beginning to end.”
Wittner’s paintings are, to say the least, unconventional, and the titles add another layer of her patented absurdity and humor. See for example, a painting started during the pandemic and first titled “Hope” with a man planting a peach tree. “Then after the pandemic, the world started getting noisy,” said Paula. In a rework of the painting, suddenly in the sky appeared a clown. New title: “What was that sound?”
Viewers stepping into the show are surrounded by bold colors and expressions and surprising objects like alligators out of a hat or surgeons working on Mr. Potato Head—basically the unexpected.
“I find myself in each of her paintings,” laughed one viewer.
The show closes on Jan. 17, 2026 with a party from 5-9pm. Until then, the gallery is open Wed and Thu 6-9pm, Fri 11am-2pm, and Sat, when Paula is on site, 11am-2pm.