Ivyside Juried Exhibition
October 31—December 14, 2024
"Symphonic Worlds"
By Kiki Gaffney
Sheetz Gallery, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts
Artist Bio
The subject matter for my drawings and paintings is based in nature. I am interested in exploring the complexity of the natural world through both representational and abstract systems that illustrate the intersection of external conditions with inner emotion, imagination, and memory. It is a dialogue between the objects we can visually see and the things that are hidden—subtle systems of movement, energy and communication. I am drawn to the varying patterns in the natural world, forms that repeat or clone, sculptural in the way they interact with the surrounding environment and light, and particularly in their fluctuating states of growth and decay. The complex symbiotic relationships in nature are networks of collaboration, cooperation and interconnectedness, and while sometimes it may be perceived as chaotic, nature finds its own order. The natural world can be viewed as a metaphor for life in its vulnerability, resilience, transformation and impermanence. It is a space for pause and contemplation, which is the underlying theme of my work.
Artist Statement
Kiki Gaffney is a visual artist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who works primarily in graphite, oil and acrylic. Her work is highly detailed and explores the natural environment through recognizable imagery in combination with conceptual and abstract ideas. She received a BA in studio arts from Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland in 1993, and an MFA in painting from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1999. Gaffney is represented by Pentimenti Gallery in Philadelphia, Modern West Fine Art in Salt Lake City, Utah, and K. Imperial Fine Art in San Francisco, California, and she has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions at these, as well as other galleries and art spaces around the country. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, The Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington, Delaware, and the Southern Utah Museum of Art in Cedar City, Utah, and has been recognized by renowned curators and artists Robert Storr, Elaine Reichek, Odili Donald Odita, and Eileen Neff. In addition to exhibitions, Gaffney has been awarded several artist residencies, including the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Amherst, Virginia in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, as well as the Denver Botanic Gardens in Denver, Colorado, and The Montello Foundation (in New York City andMontello, Nevada, both in 2023. She is married to artist Tom Judd and has a 17-year-old daughter, Astrid.
Checklist
Nature’s Mandala #10, 2023
Graphite, oil, acrylic, photograph on paper, 14” x 11”
Nature’s Mandala #2, 2023
Graphite, acrylic, gold leaf, photograph on paper, 14” x 11”
Memory + Movement, 2022
Graphite, gold leaf, silver leaf, glitter, photographs on paper, 23.5” x 19”
Shift #2, 2022
Graphite, acrylic, colored pencil, gold leaf on paper, 30” x 45”
Vestige, 2022
Graphite, acrylic, spray paint, colored pencil, gold leaf, silver leaf on paper, 22.5” x 30”
Horizon #1, 2020
Graphite, acrylic, colored pencil, gold leaf on paper, 30” x 22.5”
Horizon #2, 2020
Graphite, acrylic, colored pencil, gold leaf on paper, 30” x 22.5”
Under the El, 2017
Graphite and oil on wood panel, 24’ x 48”
1679 Kinsey, 2017
Graphite, acrylic, colored pencil, gold leaf on paper, 30” x 44”
4404 Paul, 2016
Graphite, acrylic, gold leaf on paper, 30” x 22.5”
Forest Mandala, 2021
Graphite, acrylic, gold leaf on wood panel, 10” x 8”
Forest Mandala - Yellow, 2019
Flashe, glitter on wood panel, 10" x 8”