Artist Statement

Kate’S work centers radicalized empathy, subversion, and resilience. Her focus on the unseen & unfairly distributed labor of women and marginalized people is shown by layering traditional portraiture with abstracted forms.

Portraiture is a self-promotional tool of the elite, aggrandizing themselves and their work, displaying an individual’s achievements such as a family business or pet project. Kate points the tool where it properly belongs, to individuals from marginalized communities or “well-behaved women.” These are the people who form the bedrock of society’s support structure, culture, and innovation. Kate uses portraiture to highlight and elevate traditionally overlooked individuals’ acts of import and intrinsic value.

Kate’s technique begins traditionally, using her own stretcher bars, hand-stretching and priming the canvas, and painting figurative works using a process where the painting is created four times (sketch, color study, tonal study, grisaille) before the first layer of color is applied. For many pieces, she interviews her subjects asking questions like, “What event would you consider most formative to who you are?” to get a feel for their lived experience. Alternatively, she develops a narrative based on her own lived experience as a female, Jew, and friend trying her best.

Once the representational portrait is complete she takes a sharp departure from tradition and layers in charcoal, gold, textured gesso, and/or pattern to convey the narrative. The portraits lionize the necessity of creativity, rebellion, and self-love in all communities.

Bio

Kate Citrin is a painter in Evanston, IL working mainly in oils. She holds her BFA from Grand Valley State University and has additional training from Old Town School of Art, Vitruvian Fine Arts Academy, and Drawing America. She has been painting since 2002 and has shown at numerous galleries across the United States including an exhibit curated by the Guerrilla Girls. She also creates commissioned portraits (both pet and people). Her artwork has been featured in commercial arts including advertisements, album design, and packaging, including international runs.

CV

Summary:
Figurative oil & mixed media painter exploring societal pressures on identity through traditional and expressive techniques.

 Exhibitions:
Year     Show Type, name of exhibition, Gallery (City)
2025    Solo Exhibition, Support Structures, Space 900 Gallery (Evanston)
2025    Curated Exhibition, Florence Biennale, Fortezza de Basso (Florence, Italy)
2025    Curated Exhibition, That’s What She Said, Jackson Junge Gallery (Chicago)
2025    Curated Exhibition, Unseen Labor, Agitator Gallery (Chicago)
2024    Curated Exhibition, 10x10, Jackson Junge Gallery (Chicago) – Sold
2024    Curated Exhibition, By & About Women IV, Regional Center for Women in the Arts (Westtown, PA) 
2024    Group Exhibition, HOWL, Wild Heart Gallery – Finalist
2023    Curated Exhibition, It Figures, Wayward Arts (Chicago) – sold
2022    Group Exhibition, Grotesque Burlesque Group Show 3, Wayward Arts (Chicago)
2020    Group Exhibition, Grotesque Burlesque Group Show 1, Uptown Underground (Chicago)
2017    Solo Exhibition, Unnamed, Rogers Park Social (Chicago) – 12 artworks sold
2016    Curated Exhibition, Body Arts, Bikram Yoga Andersonville (Chicago)
2010    Curated Exhibition, Ravenswood Gallery (Chicago)
2008    Curated Exhibition, Are We There Yet, Arc Gallery (Chicago)
2007    Curated Exhibition, The Commercial Woman, Woman Made Gallery (Chicago)
2007    Group Exhibition, Square Foot Show, The Gallaxie (Chicago) – sold
2007    Curated Exhibition, Who Wants to Be a Feminist, Rhonda Schaller Studio (New York)

Commissions:
Year     Name of Buyer, Name of piece, size, medium, (City)
2022    Luba Dovjenko, Adventure Cat, 8.5”x11”, oil on linen (Chicago)
2022    Nyiah Wiggand, Lilly, 8.5”x11”, oil on linen (Kentucky)
2021    Virginia Lang, New Snow, 24”x30”, oil on linen (Kentucky)
2021    Paulina, Dante, 24”x36”, oil on canvas (Las Vegas)
2007    Margaret Schlessiger, Wheat, 20” x 30”, oil on canvas (Houston)
2006    The City of Detroit, TigerTown Logo, illustration (Detroit)
2006    The Rice Bowl Project, Hope, 3 illustrations (virtual)
2006    Recycling for Charities, Press Kit, 2 Illustrations (Detroit)
2005    Donna White, The Bathers, 4’ x 3’, oil on canvas, (Detroit)
2004    Porno Jazz (band), Cheaper Than Therapy, album cover (Lansing)Professional

Experience:
Visual artist trained in oils, watercolor, mixed media, charcoal, graphite, sculpture (wood, ceramics, welding), printmaking (etching, engraving, aquatint, mezzotint, monotype, woodblock). Experienced with figurative, representational, and abstract. Well-versed in art history.

• Landscape watercolor painting each night for 20 days on Appellation Trail.

• 30+ pencil and chalk on toned paper drawings in the “Goddess” series exploring balconies and basements of characteristics viewed as feminine weakness and strength.

• 20+ years’ experience as Creative Director and Designer at numerous agencies and in-house.

• Artistic travels bi-monthly; Myth Gallery (New Orleans), The Met and MOMA (New York), Singer Sargent murals (Boston), Portrait Gallery (Washington DC), Tate Modern (London), Sargent and Fashion (London)

• Attends art functions regularly to collaborate & expand influences:

• 10+ year member of Grotesque Burlesque drawing group

• Annual artists retreat weekend (MI) with 12 other artists

• Artists retreat weekend with Jill Thompson and 5 other artists (WI)

• Artists retreat (Adeline’s House of Cool, WI) 

Professional Organizations:
2004-2006       Bare Bone Women’s Art Studio
2009-2011       Chicago Artist’s Coalition member
2009-2012       Art Institute of Chicago member
2010-current   Grotesque Burlesque drawing group member
2022-current   Host of “Art Loft” monthly figurative drawing group 
2024-current Evanston Made artist community member

Education:
2002    BFA, Grand Valley State University
2015    Figure Drawing, Vitruvian Fine Arts
2022    Drawing America, Jennifer Gennari’s Portrait Painting
2024. Old Town Triangle School of Art, Painting with Joe Taylor