Ky Anderson: Time Has Width

KY ANDERSON TIME HAS WIDTH

SHERRY LEEDY CONTEMPORARY ART

SHERRY LEEDY CONTEMPORARY ART

image:

Time Has Width

Arches and Stars (L) Stars and Rug Rain (R)

Ky Anderson: Time Has Width Artist Statement

When I woke in the middle of the night, suspended between sleep and consciousness, the words “Time Has Width” appeared, accompanied by a vision of imagined paintings that showed mo ments on a timeline. In these paintings, each event along the timeline was shown as a point surrounded by circular lines that expanded, overlapped and communicated with one another.

Once fully awake, the paintings in my vision and the words Time Has Width seemed nonsensical. But, as the day went on and I worked in the studio, the idea and images of my vision began to occupy more space in my mind. Time Has Width had become a problem to solve and, for me, the best way to un derstand and explore an idea was to paint it.

I began first by painting the images I had seen in my vision and four of these paintings are in this exhi bition. When I first painted them, I wasn’t satisfied. I felt there was no discovery in the process as I was painting something I had already seen. For me, ideas develop organically through painting. As I paint, the idea creates its own structure and I can imagine it as a three-dimensional shape. In these paintings, the timeline is shown evolving or falling apart into a column of color. In the moment when events col lide, they explode. During the process of painting, it was as if I was inside of the event looking out at the timeline, as if I could see time from the inside out.

As these paintings evolved, I began to understand that Time Has Width was an insight, a visual trans lation, of the impact that the pandemic has had on my life over the past few years. The effect has been intensely personal and, at the same time, global. Covid became an intensified event on everyone’s shared timeline across the world. These moments flew together, exploded, expanded, contracted and overlapped.

In March of 2020, when Covid suddenly emerged and NY City shut down, my studio work underwent a massive shift. I was actively working on several different series at once. The impact of the pandemic had the effect of cleansing my mind of all things conceptual. I lost my ideas.

I was living in Brooklyn and my studio was within walking distance. In the midst of the shutdown, I was able to continue working. I was left with nothing but a strong drive to paint. During this time, I painted without conscious content. My paintings came from my process, my muscle memory, and pulled from everything that I’d ever painted. Some of the paintings from this time are included in this exhibition and are in active dialogue with the Time Has Width series.

Today my studio is in Kansas City and over time my ideas have come back, but I still incorporate paint ing from muscle memory. It has become a meditation, an exercise, while I’m painting. If world events get to be too much, I can let my mind rest and trust my body to make the work.

Ky Anderson Bio

Fictional and personal stories blend together in the vibrant and abstract work of Ky Anderson. Working with a wide range of media on canvas, paper and, most recently, hand-made cast paper, Anderson has created a unique visual language through an ongoing process of exploration and experimentation. She will often work in series with multiple works in process and explore ideas from many visual angles. Anderson has said, “I believe that ideas are three dimensional. Once an idea is fully formed, I see it from all sides. That’s when the painting really begins.”

In her current exhibition, Time Has Width, Ky Anderson explores a dream-vision of imagined paintings that were revealed to her as moments on a timeline. These painted explorations began with her dream-vi sion but soon transformed into paintings of three-dimensional structures that evolved, came together and fell apart. Anderson began to understand that Time Has Width was a visual translation of the impact of the pandemic of the past few years. The pandemic defined a time that was intensely personal and simultaneously global. It was an event shared on everyone’s timeline. The paintings in Time Has Width became an exploration of this experience. Ky Anderson’s paintings and works on paper have been exhibited widely throughout the United States, Canada and Europe in solo shows, group shows, and international art fairs. Her work has been shown in public institutions including Moore College of Art, Weatherspoon Art Museum, The Nerman Museum, The University of Northern Iowa and The University of Dallas. Residencies include Saltonstall Foundation and Vermont Studio Center. Anderson was born and raised in Kansas City, MO and received her BFA The Kansas City Art Institute. After living and painting in Brooklyn, New York for 25 years Anderson relocated her home and studio to Kansas City, MO in 2020.

Anderson’s artist talk at SLCA

Acrylic,

acrylic, and ink on rice paper.

acrylic, and ink on rice paper.

acrylic,

ink on rice paper.

RP22.17

2022

Pigment, acrylic, and ink on rice paper. 9.25” x 9.25”

RP22.16

2022

Pigment, acrylic, and ink on rice paper. 10” x 10”

KY ANDERSON CV

Education

1995 BFA Kansas City Art Institute

Selected Solo & Two Person Exhibitions

2021 Groundswell, with Vicki Sher, Haggerty Gallery, University of Dallas, Irving, TX

2020 Star School, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

2019 Careful Foresters, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, New York, NY Parkway Plans, Republic Gallery, Vancouver, Canada

2018 The Lighthouse, Zeitgeist, Nashville, TN Crested, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2017 Small Stories, Matteawan Gallery, Beacon, NY

2016 The Cave, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO Rotation, Nha Minh, Brooklyn, NY

2015 Hover, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, NY, NY Ky Anderson, Look&Listen, Saint Chamas, France

2013 Cloud Weight, Frosch&Portmann, New York, NY

2012 Ky Anderson, Cabin Gallery, London, UK

2010 New Work, Dolphin Gallery, Kansas City, MO

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022 Outside In-Textures and Abstractions, Bam Art Advisory, Larchmont, NY

Among Friends, Equity Gallery, New York, NY Shifting Instinct, The Ekru Project, Kansas City, MO

2021 Solo by Rooms, BAM Art Advisory, Larchmont, NY Art on Paper, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, New York, NY Art in the Yard, BAM Art, Larchmont, NY Summer Invitational, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO Coast to Coast, Zeitgeist, Nashville, TN no rhyme or reason II, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2020 The Anniversary Show: 35 Years of Art, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

Art Toronto, Republic Gallery, Vancouver, CA Art on Paper, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, New York, NY PAPER GIANTS, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA

2019 Late Summer Showcase, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO Xanadu, Zeitgeist, Nashville, TN.

Among Friends, Clemente Soto Velez Center, NY

Green: The Impossible Color, The Painting Center, New York, NY Trio, Gold/scopophilia, Montclair, NJ Art on Paper, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, New York, NY

The Idiosyncratic Pencil Resharpened, Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery, Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC

2018 Walking is a Way of Knowing, curated by Janelle Turner, Brooklyn, NY IN/SIGHT, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

PAPER GIANTS L.A., Lois Lambert Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Art on Paper, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, New York, NY Art on Paper, Sugarlift, New York, NY

The Idiosyncratic Pencil, Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery, Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC Nothing But Good Live II, PARK, Tilburg, The Netherlands

2017 Utopias Constructed III, Republic Gallery, Vancouver, Canada

Elemental Abstractions, Mill Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM Summer Invitational, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO Got it for Cheep, one night shows in various locations all over the world Spring Fling, Bryant St Gallery, Palo Alto, CA. (two person show)

The Other Side, Atlas, 11 Spring St, Newburgh, NY.

At Home, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN

PAPER GIANTS 3, Galleries at Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA

2016 Celebrating 40 years, Highlights From the Collection, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, NY, NY Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us), touring show, various locations all over the world. Curated by Jeffery Cortland Jones.

The Black & White Project, Transmitter, Brooklyn, NY. Curated by Yifat Gat.

PAPER GIANTS 2, with Vicki Sher and Meg Lipke, The Volland Store, Alma, KS Pulse NY, two person booth with Vicki Sher, Uprise Art

2015 FORMAT RAISIN, Galerie Martagon, Malaucène, France

Humble Iterations, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, NY, NY Art on Paper, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, Miami, FL Sluice Art Fair, London, UK

Peer Review, Blyth Gallery, Imperial College London, London, UK Little Hands, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ Family Ties - Brooklyn | Dallas, 500X Gallery, Dallas, TX Momenta Art Spring Benefit, Brooklyn, NY Art on Paper, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, NY, NY South of No North East of No West, Lowe Mill, Huntsville, AL New Work City, Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY

2014 Opening Group Show, Nha Minh, Brooklyn, NY

PAPER GIANTS, with Vicki Sher and Meg Lipke, Proto Gallery, Hoboken, NJ Family Style, Formerly Pocket Utopia, NY, NY Full House (west), Saint Paul, MN

ART ON SKATEBOARDS, De Buck Gallery, New York, NY

2013 What I like About You, Parallel Art Space, Brooklyn, NY The Big Show 8, Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY Thanks for the Warning, Dolphin Gallery, Kansas City, MO

2012 A Dialogue in Abstraction, Curating Contemporary, Online Gallery Cannonball, Frosch&Portmann, New York, NY What’s the Point?, Jen Bekman, New York, NY Dream Continuum, Circuit12 Contemporary, Dallas, TX ‘five’, Gallerie 1/52, La Seyne sur Mer, France

2011 Affordable Art Fair, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, NY, NY

2010 2010 Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC No Plans for Today, Funtimes Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Group Show, Tinlark Gallery, Los Angles, CA

100 Records, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA & Cinders Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Paper!Awesome!, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA Frest StART, Arena 1 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2009 Swipple & Gold, Ever Gold Gallery, San Francisco, CA ABCyz Benefit Exhibition, Silver Shed, New York, NY Beyond Bounds, Nerman Museum, Overland Park, KS Censor Approved, The Dolphin, Kansas City, MO Works on Paper, Around the Coyote, Chicago, IL

2008 You Know What’s Real, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS X Marks the Art, Jen Bekman, New York, NY Landscape Portrait Pattern, Hallway Bathroom Gallery, San Francisco, CA For Art’s Sake, Dolphin Gallery, Kansas City, MO Group Show, Dolphin Gallery, Kansas City, MO

Pre 2007 Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS Group Show, Dolphin Gallery, Kansas City, MO Group Art Show Part II, Echo Curio, LA, CA Two For The See-saw, Branch Gallery, Carrboro, NC Paper!Awesome!, Pigman Gallery, San Francisco, CA Ky Anderson, Rachell Sumpter & Megan Whitmarsh, Branch Gallery, Carrboro, NC Targets and Trophies, Motel Gallery, Portland, OR Anima/Botanica, Branch Gallery, NY, NY

Residencies

2018 Saltonstall Foundation, Ithaca, NY

2017 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

2015 Look&Listen, Saint Chamas, France

Curatorial

2015 Artist-Run, Miami Beach, FL

Embossed, Gallery Molly Krom, NYC

Embossed, Look&Listen, Saint Chamas, France

Interviews

Sound & Vision, conversation with Brian Alfred (podcast)

Conor O’Driscoll, Running Towards, interview with Ky Anderson, Discourse

Jessica Meany, Artist Interview with Ky Anderson, Got a Girl Crush

Ahtcast, Artist Interview: Ky Anderson

Valerie Brennan, Interview with Ky Anderson, Studio Critical

Selected Bibliography

2020 Dana Self, “Ky Anderson: Star School,” Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, KC Studio

2019 Meg Lipke, Careful Foresters, catalog essay for solo show at Kathryn Markel Fine Art

2017 Barbara Gallo Farrell, Creative process is a constant drive for artist Ky Ander-son, Pough keepsie Journal

NEXT-Ky Anderson, Farmboy Fine Arts Blog Edith Newhall, Women in the Abstract, Philadelphia Inquirer

2016 A Conversation Between Artists At PULSE New York Art Fair, Art Report

The Art of Ky Anderson, Design Milk

2015 Sharon Louden, Artist-run @ Satellite in Miami, Two Coats of Paint Style Carrot, ARTmonday: Ky Anderson’s Contemporary Artwork Black & White, curated by Yifat Gat, Look and Listen Publications

2014 Peyton, Cydney, A Common Task, Catalogue Essay: Paper Giants Young, Geoffrey, Catalogue Essay: Paper Giants

2013 Booooooom, Ky Anderson

The Artsy Forager – Lesley Frenz, A Careful Balance: Ky Anderson Stephen B. MacInnis, Have you met…Ky Anderson?, Painter’s Progress Brown Paper Bag, Ky Anderson

2011 Juxtapoz Magazine, Paintings by Ky Anderson Booooooom, Ky Anderson

2010 Elisabeth Kirch, Paintings set the right tone, Kansas City Star, print Chris Packham, Ky Anderson’s deceptively simple paintings at the Dolphin, The Pitch, print Steve Brisendine, Spare and Intricate, Silent and Eloquent: Ky Anderson, eReview, print