Kimberly Rowe

Artist Statement:

My work is materials and color driven, with paint as my primary medium.  While I make paintings on canvas and panel, in many of my projects, fabric and acrylic are used as paint, collapsing the boundaries between substrate and medium.

I work intuitively.  Color is extremely important and I move through my paintings in response to it. I also pay attention to where edges meet and create tension and how areas are revealed or concealed by way of my placement of layers. In my fabric works, I am intrigued by the way the backside of a piece of material may be as important to show as the front, and how sometimes I feel compelled to make sure that both are seen simultaneously. I love the unpredictability of what will ooze through the fabric when I place it on top of paint, forcing me to either respond to it or decide that what has occurred is fine just the way it is.

Often I find myself layering and folding the fabric upon itself; there is something so familiar to me about this act. It somehow reminds me of the many times in which I have folded lingerie or linens, and the slippage that occurs so that the edges are never quite exact. It's bothersome, but unavoidable, like so many things in life. No matter how perfect I try to make something, my humanity sometimes gets in the way.

A painter and sculptor/installation artist, Kimberly Rowe lives in Berkeley, and works at her studio in Oakland.  Her work has been seen in many solo and group exhibitions, including shows at Cheim and Read, New York;  the Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis; Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles; Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA; Jaffe Art Center, Norfolk Virginia; Idyllwild Art Center Gallery, Idyllwild, CA; Laxart, Los Angeles; the Berkeley Art Center and Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA; the Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA; Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA; the Castro Theatre, San Francisco, CA; the Diego Rivera and Swell Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute; Mission Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA; the Lab, San Francisco; the Garage, San Francisco; Arts First, Oakland; and the Museum of Pocket Art. 

One of her paintings is the cover image for the MOPA catalogue Abstract Small. And Kenneth Baker recently published a review of her work in the San Francisco Chronicle and SF Gate. Residencies include Headlands Center for the Arts (Affiliate Artist); Painting’s Edge (A.I.R.); and Kala Art Institute (A.I.R.) 

Kimberly is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Juror’s Award (Bettie-Sue Hertz), in the 2010 Bay Area Annual, at Sanchez Art Center; and a Purchase Award, a Juror’s Award, the Mona Froyland Award, and was an Honors Studio recipient, at CSUH.  She was a Root Division Introductions finalist in 2011. She earned her MFA with Honors from the San Francisco Art Institute and a double Bachelor’s degree Cum Laude in Studio Art; and Psychology, Philosophy, and Religion, from California State University, Hayward, CA.