• KIM PIOTROWSKI:
  • Crowns

  • January 8 - February 13, 2010
  • Opening Reception: Friday, January 8 (7-10PM)

  • 65GRAND is pleased to present Kim Piotrowski in her first exhibition with the gallery. Her suite of mixed media painting and drawings on synthetic paper loosely interprets both the imagery and psychology of crowns. This in-depth exploration builds on Piotrowski's past accomplishments, and the thematic consistencies and uniform size of the works are expertly counter-balanced by vigorous experimentation and a keen inventiveness.

  • Frothing pools of washy pigment are partially covered over with masterfully articulated opaque forms. Hatch marks made by felt tipped markers echo the streaky single strokes of sienna paint made by four-inch wide brushes. The Medieval medium of gold leaf is lavishly layered onto state of the art Yupo, a polypropylene plastic paper. The result is a tireless array of enticingly incongruent color combinations and spatial relationships. Chance and precision are at play in every piece.

  • Although abstract, the works bear, to varying degrees, glimpses into the source material Piotrowski references; a cluster of small, candy colored blooms in She King, a drilled curl cascading over a wigged wearers shoulder in The Taker. These brief blinks of representation remind us of the historical richness and practical variation of Piotrowski's crowns. Like a royal flush, the highest and rarest of all poker hands, kings, queens and knaves are all represented and regaled in this body of work.

  • Kim Piotrowski was born in Buffalo, New York and lives and works in Chicago. She has had solo exhibitions at the Skestos Gabriele Gallery, Chicago, Union League Club of Chicago in 2007, and McLean County Arts Center in Bloomington, Illinois in 2008. She was the 2009 recipient of the Illinois Arts Council's Visual Artist Grant and the 2010 recipient of Ragdale's Visual Artist Residency Award. She has a solo exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center scheduled for winter of 2010.