b. 1987
Keri Kimura’s paintings explore color, chaos, pattern, and time. She studied painting at Smith College, the Glasgow School of Art, and the New York Studio School. Kimura lives and works in Southwest Harbor, Maine.
“I like to experiment in the studio. I look for new ways to put the paint down, new shapes, new textures. I try to surprise myself. I guess it makes me a somewhat inconsistent painter. But sometimes it leads me to new places, new ways of imagining how to build an image. And I paint over a lot of paintings. These are five pieces that have been hanging around my studio for a few years. They’re oddballs.
In the larger piece, I played with shapes borrowed from a thrift store painting. In another, I used masking tape to make the stripes and break up the surface. In the three small works, I tried adding raised areas to the picture plane. I think all these pieces moved me forward in some way.”
Q. If you could offer your younger self any advice at the start of your artistic career, what would it be?”
A. “I hate to give advice because I’m still figuring it out. But I would say to a younger self: Just work. It doesn’t have to make sense or be part of a body of work. Just make what interests you and explore every medium and method you can. Look at as much art as you can, in person if possible. Even if you don’t think you’re going to like it, go see it anyway. Listen to the advice of all your teachers and peers but be selective about what you put into practice. You’ll gather little threads and eventually you’ll weave them together. Trust your intuition.”