Tara Walters: Heartbreaker, Dream Maker

The Pacific landscapes and dancing jellyfish of California come alive through vibrant paintings that explore the delicate balance between joy and sorrow. Tara Walters: Heartbreaker, Dream Maker, on view through May 17 at Nina Johnson gallery in Little Haiti, presents ten new paintings and two pastel drawings that capture life's dualities through an optimistic American lens.

Created with a combination of Pacific Ocean water, water-based and oil-based paints, Walters' works feature imagery of flaming tigers in trees and doves crying over Malibu canyons, all completed before wildfires destroyed the artist's home. Each painting is accompanied by an original poem, inspired by Florine Stettheimer's Crystal Flowers, adding another dimension to Walters' exploration of beauty and danger.

The exhibition also includes a video piece conceived in Lacoste, France, featuring a mirrored ballerina dancing on a moonscape to the sound of Walters' own voice and guitar. This multimedia approach extends her meditation on identity and duality.

Drawing its title from contrasting songs—Audrey Hepburn's tender Moon River and Pat Benatar's defiant Heartbreaker—the exhibition questions whether power resides in soft surrender or fierce resistance. This new body of work reflects a matured perspective, moving away from Walters' earlier ethereal unicorn imagery toward capturing the magical realism of everyday life, following in the tradition of artists like Stettheimer, Marie Laurencin, Ree Morton and Laura Owens.

Tara Walters: Heartbreaker, Dream Maker can be viewed in Nina Johnson's Front Gallery as part of the gallery's spring exhibition program.