Kate Shepherd

Solo exhibition,Surveillance, March 12 - April 18,2020, GALERIE LELONG & Co . New York

The surfaces of Shepherd’s paintings are glossy, rich, and warm, even when the colors are cool. Made on large wood panels, the works feature compositions of thin white lines in oil applied to unmodulated fields of enamel. These lines appear chaotic at first—they form jagged angles, jointed curves, and sprays like fallen pins—but on sustained viewing, familiar shapes emerge.

Shepherd also makes editioned works more singularly about color using screen printing, etchings, digital printing, linocuts, collage and painted wood. Some include triangles based in Josef Albers’ pedagogy. The wood works span from stackable toy blocks to jigsaw puzzles to mobiles. Her editioned sculpture and more monochromatic works achieve a fragmented sense of collapsed geometry. She is known for her mastery of optical intrigue and the psychology of space.

Up until 2015, Shepherd often began her work in SketchUp to build three dimensional models. Recently, the artist has begun using etching ink to apply line work onto panels without a pre-drawn plan. The dark reflective surfaces and luminous ink feel as if they are a digital screen. The image, derived from both existing and imaginary forms, develops from specific reference sources. Whereas a sculptor might make a drawing to depict form on a 2D plane, Shepherd creates her paintings by drawing virtual sculpture.

Kate Shepherd (born 1961) is an American artist based in New York City known for her application of oil paint upon highly saturated layers of enamel.