Tumbling through artist Tara Booth's Instagram feels forbidden yet right. It's the sensation of stumbling upon a secret diary only to realize the main character is you. Booth's relatable and fearlessly transparent art provides solace and a sense of shared vulnerability and starting on February 25, her childlike works will be on view at mtn space gallery in Lake Worth. Booth herself will also be in South Florida as mtn space's first official artist in residence.
It's a big development for the new-ish gallery that sits across Lake Avenue from the county Cultural Council offices, and for the Portland, Oregon-based Booth. When gallery founder Melissa Delprete came to Palm Beach County from the opposite corner of the country, Seattle, she found a community of emerging and established artists, and wasted no time fitting in. She opened mtn space in 2020 and asked a longtime friend to help run it. A little over a year later, mtn space tapped Booth to launch a residency program.
Like Delprete, Booth is well-traveled, reloating from Philadelphia to a Pacific Northwest art scene known for offbeat cartoonists such as Gary Larson, Lynda Barry and the late John Callahan. Booth and her comic-style art — including a pair of wordless graphic-novel memoirs, "DUII" and "Nocturne" — have appeared in Hyperallergic, Vice, and the New York Times.