American
B. 1988
Katie Kirk is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. Born and raised in California, she began focusing on painting while working as a scenic artist in the film industry. Her work is a celebration of the body, difference, and materiality. Using the floor as a foundation, she uses her whole body to compress and drag the paint across the canvas. The surfaces are constantly reworked until the moment a teetering form of balance is achieved between surface and object. These paintings are artifacts of her body’s movement, which emphasize the materiality of the paint, thus she considers her work to be an extension of her body’s physical record. Through her life, and work, Kirk endeavors to posit ideas about pleasure, and the role of pleasure in art and life; ultimately striving for the experience of her work to be gratifying.
"In my work and life I posit ideas about pleasure and the role of pleasure in art and life. I strive for the experience of the work to be gratifying for the viewer, providing a physical, psychological, and optical whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts."
She received her MFA in Painting & Drawing from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2016.