Karen Kilimnik

Karen Kilimnik (born 1955, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States) is an American painter and installation artist.

Karen Kilimnik
Born1955 (age 64–65)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
NationalityAmerican
EducationTemple University, Philadelphia
Known forPainting, Installation art

Life and work

Karen traveled through much of the United States and Canada as a young child. She often spoke of Russell, Manitoba as being an inspiration for her later works. Karen Kilimnik studied at Temple University, Philadelphia.

Her installations reflected a young viewpoint of pop culture. An example of this work is her 1989 breakout The Hellfire Club Episode of the Avengers, which is composed of photocopied images, clothing, drawings, and other objects that reverentially embody the glamour, risk, and mod kitsch of the 1960s television show. The work exemplified the “scatter” style of her installations.[1]

Kilimnik's paintings, characterised by loose brushwork, bold colors and "thrift shop paint-by-numbers awkwardness",[2] are pastiches of the Old Masters and often incorporate portraits of celebrities. In contrast to the celebrity portraits of Elizabeth Peyton, Kilimnik, "blends together Conceptual and performance art and 1980's appropriation with the current interest in female psychology and identity."[2]

Jonathan Jones described her portrait of Hugh Grant (1997) as "a nice example of a relatively new genre of painting, which we might call the iconic portrait, not commissioned by its sitter but based on photographs, magazine cuttings, film clips."[3]

Her work is variously described as "sharp and witty...an interesting exercise in conceptual control"[4] and as "wan and whimsical...Why does anyone want to make them? Why does any self-respecting painter ever set out to be feeble?"[5]

Collections

Kilimnik's has work in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art,[6] the Carnegie Museum of Art[7] and the Whitney Museum of American Art.[8]

Exhibitions

Bibliography
  • Karen Kilimnik (ed. Lionel Bovier), Zurich: JRP/Ringier (2006).
gollark: Praise to Ferris! 🦀
gollark: 🦀 🦀 🌵
gollark: Do you not yearn for a simpler time, when everything shared the same memory space?
gollark: 2019 is the year of the TempleOS Desktop.
gollark: Plus it's protected from viruses by god and the lack of networking.

References
  1. William Hanley (May 8, 2007), Philadelphia: Kilimnik Installations, Homage to the Blues, ARTINFO, retrieved 2008-04-22
  2. Smith, Roberta. "Art in Review: Karen Kilimnik", The New York Times, February 12, 1999.
  3. Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, July 1, 2000.
  4. Holland Cotter, 'Art in Review: Karen Kilimnik', The New York Times, October 13, 2006
  5. Laura Cummings, "The Kitsch is Back", The Observer, March 4, 2007.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-01-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-10. Retrieved 2012-04-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Karen Kilimnik". Serpentinegallery.org. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  10. Ritchie, Abraham (2008-04-04). "Reconsidering Karen Kilimnik". The Chicago Art Blog. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
  11. Nora Burnett Abrams, Karen Kilimnik's Dusk, Report from the Department of Fabrications, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Spring 2013
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