Kate Sable: Could I Have Been Just Anyone at Pazo Fine Art

Our eyes sink in and climb out as they read the visual information and absorb humor, chutzpa, worry, and anger expressed and resolved in emphatic brushstrokes and layered washes. Kate’s paintings “contain” as much as they “give,” and evince a balance between coy mystery and self-discovery. They offer a glimpse into a sacredly selfish realm. Alex Ebstein

Co v er: DR EA M H OLE , 2 0 2 0 , Oi l o n Li n e n , 66 x 54 in ch e s

KATE SABLE Could I Have Been Just Anyone D ec ember 6 , 2 0 2 0 – Febr uar y 6 , 2021

V I SI T PA ZO F I N E A R T W EB S ITE WWW. PA Z O F INE A R T.COM 4228 H O WA R D AV E K E N S INGTON M A RYLA N D 20895, US A V I SI T O U R G ALLERY

BY A PPO INTM ENT C A LL U S : T. 571. 315.5279 E M A I L U S : I N F O @ PA ZO F I N E AR T.C OM F O LLO W U S O N SO C I A L M ED IA

A l l I m ag es © Kate S able

Fl e sh l y Lu sh , 2 0 1 9 , Oi l on Li n e n , 66 x 54 in ch e s

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On the occasion of Kate Sable’s solo exhibition, Could I Have Been Just Anyone, at Pazo Fine Art in Kensington, MD I first encountered Kate Sable’s paintings in her graduate program as she was formulating her graphic language of abstraction. Her luscious canvases pulled referentially from architecture – softened out of its right angles - repeating patterns, and weighty, wavering forms that clashed unapologetically off their background hues. Bold and bright, the work was elegant, and charismatic with a paint application that emphasized the surface of the canvas and a flattened, stylized embrace of the picture plane.

In the years since, the work and the person have both matured and become more complex with lived experience and a continuous dedication to artistic practice. As a mother and partner, nuanced and intimate relationships and a shifting sense of self became integral subject matter to investigate and make room for. Over time, the flattened space and exterior references both gave way to the internal and personal; patterned expanses folded in, or lifted up, to reveal portals into deeper space and an intermingling of psychological and observed forms.

During a hiatus from exhibiting her work, Kate invested in her studio practice, exerting her physical and meditative energy into larger works that demand a full range of motion from her petite frame. A labor of creation, her work has taken on the mirrored corporeal quality of a vessel, containing a wealth of personal metaphor, narrative, intuition, and emotion within the epic behemoths at the center of her compositions. Drawing an unexpected line between viscera and décor, the coiffed, bodily arrangements hold their geometry loosely, oozing and dripping through their organizational structure, never letting us forget their materiality. Thin, radiant nets pulse through pockets of illusionistic depth, haloing them in an activated tangle of tensions and limits. Dissatisfied with tidiness, Kate interjects problems to work around, letting the composition tuck and unravel. At times, she gives into the impulse to refine, while elsewhere refuses to make polite edits to gravity-bound paint streams, enhancing a sense of liquidity and movement.

Confidently, Kate digs into her feminine perspective while utilizing palette, dramatic breadth of scale, and varied paint handling to question perceptions of gender. Defiant and imposing, this series is the artist’s antithesis to any notions of creative restriction or inhibition suffered by mothers in the art world. In these new works, we are treated to a compromise between order and flexibility, nothing truly tethered or fixed to its depicted place. Lattices, webs and props simultaneously support and give way to the sag and swell of amorphous masses, undulating to invite imperfection and breaks in anticipated repetition. Our eyes sink in and climb out as they read the visual information and absorb humor, chutzpa, worry, and anger expressed and resolved in emphatic brushstrokes and layered washes. Kate’s paintings “contain” as much as they “give,” and evince a balance between coy mystery and self-discovery. They offer a glimpse into a sacredly selfish realm.

-Alex Ebstein

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Th e Li t t l e D e a t h , 2 0 2 0 , Oi l on L in e n , 66 x 54 in ch e s

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A n d I B e gge d , 2 0 1 9 , Oi l on L in e n , 66 x 54 in ch e s

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Oil on Board, 14 x 11 inches (each)

T h e S t r i n g t h a t T ie s

Te ll M e H o w Yo u H a te

An Applause for our

U s , 2020

Me , 2020

Pe r fo r m ance, 2020

A S m a l l R e sp i t e , 2020

Yo u’ ve Go t S h a r p

It ’ s B e en a Heavy

Edge s, 2020

Lo a d, 2020

Gr e e k Go d /

S we pt in a Vague

Jo y stick, 2018

Embr a ce, 2 0 1 8

C o m e Toge t h e r, 2019

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Fre sh as Flo w ers , 2020

A p o c al y p se

S tr ipte a se , 2020

S c o r p i o n , 2020

I R an out o f B rea th

I C an S a i l M y Ow n

Kiss Kiss, H ug

a t the En d , 2020

Boat, 2019

H ug, 2019

T h i s i s a L i s t o f R ea l l y

R e d F l ags, 2 0 2 0

Run n in g C ir cle s

Great Th i ng s A b o u t

Ar o un d M y M in d, 2019

Yo u, but I Ha te Yo u So I Pai n te d O v er It, 2018 Co u l d I Ha v e B e e n J u st A nyone

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T h i r st y, 2 0 1 9 , Oi l o n Li n e n , 52 x 42 in ch e s

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B l ow, 2 0 1 9 , Oi l o n Li n e n , 52 x 42 in ch e s

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D e a r U nive r se , 2020 Oi l on B oa r d , 2 0 x 16 in ch e s

C o n tin uo us Fe e dba ck Lo o p, 2020 O il o n B o a r d, 20 x 16 in ch e s

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A n A t t e m p t t o Te sse l l a t e , 2 0 20 Oi l on B oa r d , 2 0 x 1 6 i n ch e s

T h is C o n sta n t No ise , 2020 O il o n B o a r d, 20 x 16 in ch e s

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A Lo v e Le t t e r, 2 0 2 0 O i l o n Li n e n , 3 0 x 3 0 i n c h e s

I S e e Ne o n Lights, 2 0 1 9 O il o n L in e n , 3 6 x 3 6 inches

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T h e M o ve s We M a ke , 2018 Oi l on C a n va s, 24 x 24 in ch e s

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Ar ti s t ’ s S tatem e n t I am deeply satisfied by the physicality of paint, and my primary practice is an exploration of the material through process-led abstraction. I think a lot about the idea of touch in my work, especially from a nonverbal place: where the perception of marks on the picture plane recall the experience of touch or movement.

It is that material perspective, working and reworking the way paint responds during a moment of making falling, folding, overlapping, that motivates me. I’ve always had an interest in idiosyncratic repetition and geometric abstraction, however recently my compositions have moved away from utilizing rigid patterning, and although a fretwork remains, the arena feels more organic. Within the constraints of shallow space, and relating to the sense of touch, shapes and objects within a painting allow me to illustrate sensations that feels both familiar and peculiar, fleshy and ever growing.

My paintings are abstractly driven by my narrative as a woman, a mother, a lover; but a painting becomes an interesting object to me after I’ve spent the time responding and reacting to the surface, navigating tensions between studied and intuitive decisions. I love how a painting can be loaded with jokes, clunky shapes, and a shifting figure ground relationship, but can also find its own idiosyncratic resolve--becoming something that exists purely as the thing itself. And ultimately, it’s that dance between analytical and intuitive investment in gestures, shapes, and color that serve as a foundation to my work.

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Artist’s Bio Kate Sable’s paintings of curvilinear and gridded abstract forms are an ongoing investigation between analytical and intuitive use of color, line, gesture, and shape. Her practice directly engages personal metaphor and inquiry, while remaining strongly grounded in the painting process.

Sable was recently included in DREAM JOURNAL, a three-person exhibition curated by Alex Ebstein at Goucher College (Baltimore, MD), and a two-person exhibition at Equilateral Gallwry (Los Angeles, California) curated by Sam Scharf.

Recent group exhibitions include Slowly and a Soft Speaker at SHOEBOX SPACE in New York, We Go Fast curated by Ryan Travis Christian at Left Field Gallery (Los Osos, CA), I Like Your Work Podcast’s juried exhibition Be.Long at Dutoit Gallery (Dayton, OH), and Hen House’s All Female Tiny Show (Washington, DC). Her work is included in the Spring Issue 17 of ArtMaze Magazine and was also featured in the curatorial project Air in Space with the release Blurring All the Lines, and also the publication Friend of the Artist (Volume 8). She was recently included in the curated drop HOT PAPER X CHARLIE ROBERTS, for GIFC Worldwide, and was a guest on I Like Your Work Podcast, interviewed by Erika Hess. Reviews include The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Two Coats of Paint, among others.

Originally from Virginia, Sable earned a BFA from Virginia Tech and MFA from American University in Washington, DC. She lives and works just outside of Washington, DC in Reston, VA.

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Education, Exhibitions, Awards, Publications, and Press 2009 MFA, American University, Washington, D.C. 2005 BFA, Summa Cum Laude, Virginia Tech,

Blacksburg, VA

2020 Hess, Erika. “How to Nix the Haters, Make the

Work & Shake the Guilt with Artist Kate Sable”

I Like Your Work Podcast, Oct 2.

ArtMaze Mag, Spring Issue 17, curated by

Matthew F. Fisher, London, UK. Page 112,113.

HOT PAPER X CHARLIE ROBERTS, curated drop

for GIFC Worldwide.

Blurring All the Lines | Kate Sable, Painting

Release with Air in Space curated by Jay Gaskill,

Portland, OR.

Slowly and a Soft Speaker, Kelsey Renko, Kate

Sable, and Time, SHOEBOX SPACE, NY, NY.

Exhibition # 5- Kate Sable and Matthew

Usinowicz, Equilateral Gallwry, Los Angeles, CA.

Washington Project for the Arts High Frequency,

Washington, D.C. 2019 DREAM JOURNAL-Cat Gunn, Kate Sable, and

Ayaka Takao, Goucher College, Baltimore, MD.

We Go Fast, curated by Ryan Travis Christian, Left

Field Gallery, Los Osos, CA.

Be. Long, I Like Your Work Podcast Juried

Exhibition, Dutoit Gallery, Dayton, OH.

Washington Project for the Arts Collector’s

Night, Washington, D.C.

Friend of the Artist, Publication of Volume 8

juried by Bethanie Irons, Taylor O. Thomas,

Martin Maytoa, and Vanessa Murrell.

2018 Got it For Cheap, traveling exhibition by GIFC

Worldwide, 0-0 LA Home Base for Exhibition.

2017 B.C./A.C., King Street Gallery, Montgomery

College, Takoma Park, MD. 2016 Art Night 2016, Exhibition and Benefit, curated

by Lauren Hilyard for Washington Project for the

Arts, Hickok Cole Architects, Washington, D.C.

2013 Currents, Carroll Square Gallery, organized

by Shira Kraft & Hemphill Fine Art;

Washington, D.C.

Jacobson, Louis, “Reviewed: Currents,”

Washington City Paper, February 19.

Call Collect 2012, Exhibition and Benefit,

Hamiltonian Gallery; Washington, D.C. 2012 Hope, Eric, “East City Art Reviews: 19 Ways of

Looking at a Painting,” East City Art, August 17

19 Ways of Looking at a Painting, Porch Projects;

Washington, D.C.

2011 Butler, Sharon, “Abstraction in Early 2012, Allen,

de Oude, Hathaway, Peterson, Sable, Sanin,” Two

Coats of Paint, January 12.

Jenkins, Mark, “Painters Chip Allen, Katherine

Sable, Camilo Sanin Follow and Subvert Pattern,”

Washington Post, December 29.

Post, Ari, “Georgetown Gallery Wrap, ”The

Georgetowner, December 15.

Gilbert, Sophie, “December Art Preview,”

Washingtonian After Hours Blog, November 30.

O’Sullivan, Michael, “Editors Pick: In Line/ Out of

Line,” Washington Post, November 18.

In Line/ Out of Line, three person show with Chip

Allen and Camilo Sanin, Heiner Contemporary;

Washington, D.C.

Instinctual, three person show, curated by Megan

Mueller, SWAN DAY; Washington, D.C. 2010 Suddenspace, Artdc’s Transition Exhibition Series;

Arlington, VA.

“Artist Profile: Katherine Sable,”Sudden Space

Blog, November 5.

Re-Vision: American University Alumni Show,

The Katzen Museum; Washington, D.C. 2009 RESULTS, The Katzen Museum; Washington, D.C.

Mellon Research Grant Recipient, American

University, Washington, D.C.

Merit Scholarship, American University,

Washington, D.C.

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I nsta lla t ion Views

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Ka t e S a b l e, C o ul d I Ha ve B ee n J us t A nyone

Pazo Fine Art 4228 Howard Ave LL, Kensington, MD 20895 www.pazofineart.com 571-315-5279

pazofineart

Artist’s acknowlegments: I would like to thank Luis Pazo and Michael Abrams for initiating this exhibition and catalog; their enthusiasm for my work, and trust and belief in my practice brought this show to fruition. Thank you to Pazo Fine Art for ensuring that this body of work was presented so superbly. I give special thanks to Alex Ebstein for her extraordinary essay and generosity in providing such thoughtful words to us, and for her many years fiercely advocating for both my work and for the art community at large. I am immensely grateful to my family, Jan, for supporting what I do, my children for keeping me on my toes, and my parents for giving me a childhood filled with creativity. To my absolute painting confidant and ride or die, Allison, you ground me; and to my brilliant friends, you know who you are, thank you for taking this journey with me, you are all an inspiration.

Artwork: © 2018 - 2020 Kate Sable Images: © 2020 Pazo Fine Art, LLC Photography: Víctor De La Cruz | victordelacruz@pazofineart.com Editing: Víctor De La Cruz | victordelacruz@pazofineart.com

For additional information visit: www.pazofineart.com

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Ab ou t Us Pazo Fine Art LLC is a full-service art advisory firm, specializing in Post-War and Contemporary Art with a focus on the Washington Color School and Geometric Abstraction, as well as the Light and Space and Color Field movements.

Prior to founding Pazo Fine Art LLC, Luis Pazo worked as Gallery Director at Osuna Art & Antiques under the supervision of connoisseur, collector, and dealer Ramon Osuna (19372019), where he developed a wide-ranging expertise in historical works of art and secondary market sales, while also helping to promote a world-class roster of leading national and international artists.

Pazo Fine Art offers a complete range of advisory services for private collectors, corporate clients, and public arts organizations, seeking to refine their collections and to expand their knowledge of the global art landscape.

Pazo Fine Art has built an extensive network of collectors and dealers, through traveling to study museums, galleries, and to attend art fairs around the world. The firm is actively committed to promoting the growth and diversity of the arts communities in Washington and throughout the Mid-Atlantic States.

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De ta il: A n d I Be gg ed, 2019, O i l on Li n en , 66 x 54 i n c h es

V i s i t ou r w ebsi t e w w w.p a z o fi n e a r t .c o m 4228 H ow ar d A v e Kens i n g t on, M D 20895 V i si t ou r g al l er y by appoi n t m en t C al l u s : T. 571. 315. 5279 Em a i l u s : i nf o@ paz of i near t . c om Fo l l ow u s on soc i al m edi a