Kathryn Smith "Golden"

My work evokes tension between tradition and modernity, confinement and freedom. Working internationally, I investigated the impact of Western colonial influence on developing nations and cultural identity through three years of full-time immersive travel and research. Interdisciplinary research is integral to my practice. Crafting compositions and concepts requires leaving no stone unturned, and often, the best parts of any story are found where you least expect them. Color, collage, and surrealism allow me to create striking compositions that explore figurative painting through a literary lens, turning a simple portrait into narrative. Unusual palettes and altered figures allow me to highlight gestures and develop tones that recontextualize the mundane. With humor and curiosity shaping my examination of individual and collective identity, my work seeks to prove that narrative painting, process, and materiality are not mutually exclusive. Currently, I’m reimagining Southern U.S. coastal culture outside patriarchal parameters by researching the similarities between coastal subcultures and microclimates, painting surreal scenes of fragmented figures and indigenous plants. Pulling from personal narratives to inspire visual motifs, this body of work explores playful expressions of femininity and non-patriarchal communities as a form of active resistance to Southern stereotypes and the current federal administration. I received a BA in Fine Art from the University of California Santa Barbara and attended Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London to study art marketing, business, and history. I graduated high school from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a concentration in Visual Arts. My work has been shown across North America, Europe, and Asia. Many of my ideas and research have been developed in international residencies in Mexico, Nepal, Iceland, Portugal, and Malaysia.