Kate Shepherd

• B.A., Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, 1982
• Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, New York, New York, 1982
• Master's Certificate, New York Academy of Art, New York, New York, 1986
• Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, 1990
• M.F.A., School of Visual Arts, New York, New York, 1992

Shepherd's “Stage Manager's Passage, Moss Blue Green ", 2003. Oil and Enamel on panels, 76 x 47 inches

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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

We Were the New Americans, 2007, Enamel on pine, galvanized sheet metal with screws, 14 7/8 x 6 1/8 x 7/8 inches, edition of 12

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.[5]

In her editioned works, Kate Shepherd explores relationships between painted sculpture and sculptural painting. Using her preferred materials of wood and enamel paint, she chooses the colors and that are favorites of the artist and that have associations with her childhood. The titles of the editioned work, for example, We Were The New Americans, originate from the artist's childhood memories.[6]

Shepherd has had solo exhibitions at the Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.;[7] Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon;[8] Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles, California; the Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas.

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

• Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
• Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
• Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France
• Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
• Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
• Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
• Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana
• List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
• The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
• New York Public Library, New York, New York
• Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida
• The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
• Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona
• Seattle Art Museum[9]

• Official website
• Kate Shepherd at 56 Henry review in The Villager (2017)
• Kate Shepherd by Colby Chamberlain (2016)
• Kate Shepherd: Lineaments (2015)
• Kate Shepherd: 'Telephone Game' Galerie Lelong show review in Artforum (2014)
• Kate Shepherd: 'No Title Here' Galerie Lelong show review in Frieze Magazine (2007)
• The Paintings of Kate Shepherd at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (2001)
• Article on Shepherd's residency at the Lannan Foundation at Santa Fe (2000)
• Kate Shepherd at Boesky & Callery - New York, New York - Review of Exhibitions - Brief Article (1997)
• On Color and Puzzles: Interview With Kate Shepherd in Huffington Post (2014)
• Fine Lines: Kate Shepherd at Galerie Lelong by David Rhodes (2014)