Identity Politics Painting

Kathleen Shaver is an abstract painter who studied at Moore College of Art & Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) with teachers and mentors including Bill Richards, Chuck Fahlen, and Thomas Chimes. Her work has been included in a major survey of contemporary Philadelphia artists at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and in exhibits at PAFA, Woodmere Art Museum, the James A. Michener Art Museum, Attleboro Arts Museum, the University of Maryland Art Gallery, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, and The Galleries at Moore. In addition to the Rodger LaPelle Galleries and 3rd Street Gallery in Philadelphia, Shaver has exhibited in galleries located in Delaware, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C. and Texas. She is the recipient of numerous awards for painting and her work is included in both private and corporate collections. She currently lives and works in the Hudson Valley area of New York and exhibits with MVN Design in Kingston, NY. ARTIST STATEMENT: My paintings are best described as a search for the primal. My approach is informed by abstract expressionism and a love of paint. I work from a place where intuitive gestures and mark-making record a quest for a pre-linguistic awareness. The Lascaux cave painters, whose images transcend time, culture, and language, inspire me. This quest for a primal, wordless image touches, what is to me, the deepest mystery of human existence: Where did I come from and where am I going? My paintings invite viewers to consider an existence that is not limited by words, preconceptions, or conventional identities, yet one that is framed by an unknowable mystery. My artistic process can also be described as a primal searching. Although I work within the tradition of paint on canvas, I am constantly shifting my approach in pursuit of the unexpected. Discovery happens when I paint faster than I can think. I work on multiple pieces at a time, with canvases ranging in size from very large to very small. I may start with thin washes of paint combined with calligraphic lines, eventually building up to a thick, textured surface. To apply the paint, I use a variety of spatulas, palette knives, rollers, and misshapen old brushes as well as my hands. I let the work dry between sessions. I do not plan my approach. Building up the paint surface and then scraping it down in areas, I seek to reveal something unknown.