Kat Gore

Untitled (Brown Rabbit)
mixed media on board
48x43
2005

Kat Gore, Memphis,TN

Represented by: David Lusk Gallery contact person: Robert Hollingsworth

Born: 1970, Memphis, TN

Education
1999 MFA, Memphis College of Art, Memphis
1993 BA, Rhodes College, Memphis

There is a certain place and time in my life that I revisit when I paint, delving into the conflicting and sometimes painful aspects of childhood. I use my paintings literally to wrestle with the past. I incorporate fragments of things remembered, the tile in my elementary school, the color of my grandmother’s kitchen, text from nursery rhymes and stories, to trigger a link with the past. Diagrams, wallpaper patterns and animal forms are more easily identified, while the surface they embellish may not be, generating layers that are clear and oblique. The combination of these two elements, the obvious and the obscured, charge the paintings with contradictions, forcing the viewer to investigate what is hidden and what is revealed.
The paintings often begin as layers created in plaster on canvas, providing a surface to etch into. Through this layering, the imagery, symbols and decorative patterns begin to meld on the surface, at times obscuring the narrative quality of the piece. By juxtaposing abstract passages with various symbols and personal iconography, I force the issue of the disparity between one’s expectations and the reality of the past. I reflect on the past to understand the present. The patterning in these images refer to the decorative, outer appearance of the homes they come from. Imagery and method of application refer to the emotional undercurrent that infects each home.

Selected Exhibitions
2005 Beyond the Moon, (solo exhibition) David Lusk Gallery, Memphis
Solo Exhibition, Williston Northampton School, Easthampton, MA
2004 The Price is Right 7, David Lusk Gallery, Memphis
2003 your old address, David Lusk Gallery, Memphis
2002 Three Women Artists, Albers Art, Memphis
Flowers and Art, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis
2001 Katherine Gore, Albers Art, Memphis
Transitions, Albers Art, Memphis
2000 Katherine Gore & Molly Hussey, Albers Gallery, Memphis
A Summer Review, Albers Gallery, Memphis
1999 Five-Squared: Twenty-Five New Works by Five Artists, Albers Fine Art Gallery, Memphis
Masters Thesis Exhibition, Memphis College of Art, Memphis
Faculty and Graduate Exhibition, Memphis College of Art, Memphis
New Artist 1, Group Exhibition sponsored by Delta Axis Contemporary Arts Center, Marshall Arts, Memphis
1998 Looking Back, Rhodes College Alumni Exhibition, Clough Hanson Gallery, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN
1997 50 Portraits f Women, Memphis Arts Festival, Memphis
All Fired Up, Ledbetter Lusk Gallery, Memphis
Charity Art Auction, Playhouse on the Square, Memphis
1996 One in a Hundred, Traveling Group Exhibition, Plan B Gallery, Memphis
1993 Stone Soup, Senior Student Exhibition, Rhodes College