BIO
Katelyn Alain has exhibited in solo and group shows at galleries across the United States including Jim Kempner Fine Art (New York, NY), Curtis Gallery (New Canaan, CT), Skotia Gallery (Santa Fe, NM), Thinkspace (Los Angeles, CA), Arcilesi Homberg Fine Art (New York, NY), and Dedee Shattuck Gallery (Westport, MA). Her work has been featured in publications including The Wall Street Journal, American Art Collector Magazine, Studio Visit Magazine, and Juxtapoz. In early 2020 she was a guest lecturer and visiting artist at Brooklyn College as part of the GASU visiting artist program.
Alain received her BFA in Studio Art from Hartford Art School in 2001 and her MA and MFA in Painting at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008. She studied painting at the Marchutz School in Aix-en-Provence, France in 1999-2000 and was a resident at Vermont Studio Center in 2007. Alain lives with her husband and son in Brooklyn, paints slowly, writes poetry, dreams of a new paradigm, and drinks too much coffee.
Statement From The Curators of
Katelyn Alain
Vision and Metaphor: A New American Epic
Steeped in the academic tradition of painting, but with a unique contemporary perspective, Alain draws from the compositional structure, historical motifs, and virtuosic brushwork of master painters across a diverse range of genres. Referencing these artists and other contemporary images to equate visual context with well known history paintings Alain upends a tradition that glorifies and romanticizes the male figure and gaze. Painted in a palette of rich hues to deep blacks and browns, Alain’s works are centered on portraiture within an abstracted dreamscape, built with layers of vibrating oil paint. Her loose and tight gestures obscure and deconstruct a singular reading as the work actively describes the distortion of memory and the way the brain alters information and experiences over time. Collectively they evoke the fleeting nature of perception, time, and the loss implicit in memory while elevating the human struggle for wisdom and change.
Alain’s new work is a singular and vital response to the current times and the work touches on a deep uneasiness- often depicting children isolated on the water- yet also heroically in charge of their own destiny or in moments of epiphany. Alain describes a need for a new mythology and this work responds, gives voice to, and continues a visual conversation that bridges the past and the now. We, the viewer, desire to explicate Alain’s figures, held in mutable suspense alighting somewhere between the past, the present, and the future unknown.
-Christie Nichols and Susan Khiar, Curtis Gallery, New Canaan, CT
Artist Statement
There is a need for a new mythology that resonates with our wants and desires in this life right now. A need to see ourselves and our children living wholly empowered and legitimately respected. A need to see real faces that reflect the truth the subconscious is already aware of. The recognition that we are all brilliantly reflected in the souls of others.
When I began these paintings I asked myself what I needed to create in the world right now. The ideas and visions flowed in and while I worked to bring them to life more questions came up: what does true equality really look like? What would the story look like if the traditionally invisible were included in our historical context? What would it be like to walk through an art museum and see paintings that reflected our truth, power, and knowing? What would my work look like if I gave thanks to the unseen daughters of history by paying tribute to the wise leaders among us who must one by one and in unison reveal the real truth? What is the truth when we dismantle the limiting boxes and categories that cage us in? And where can true freedom exist if we don't allow openness, respect and understanding even for ourselves?
I see a fresh future that is pushed into betterment by all hands on deck. I see new stories, new norms, and new leaders all around me. We are already moving swiftly over the water if we could just grab the oars and herald the young taking control of the boat.
Artist Statement 2024
The girls in my paintings are inspired by the voices that have been silenced in the past, girls I witness speaking truth to power now, the diverse heroines and archetypes of a new future. I distill current events, personal experiences and a feminist framework into a mythology of girls navigating to a new world with their inner power made visible. These children become conduits of divine feminine power that live in a metaphoric dreamscape beyond expectation and the male gaze.
Combining traditional oil painting techniques with abstractions from a rich inner experience, my life-sized characters are painted to be in contrast and conversation with romanticized historical paintings that have upheld the ideologies and constructs of colonial patriarchy. By altering the traditional narrative to elevate and enshrine empowered young girls overcoming myriad challenges, it is my hope these works will help herald a new paradigm where truth, value, respect, equality, sovereignty, and hope are emblematic of our collective identity.
Katelyn Alain has exhibited in solo and group shows at galleries across the United States including Jim Kempner Fine Art (New York, NY), Curtis Gallery (New Canaan, CT), Skotia Gallery (Santa Fe, NM), Thinkspace (Los Angeles, CA), Arcilesi Homberg Fine Art (New York, NY), and Dedee Shattuck Gallery (Westport, MA). Her work has been featured in publications including The Wall Street Journal, American Art Collector Magazine, Studio Visit Magazine, and Juxtapoz. In early 2020 she was a guest lecturer and visiting artist at Brooklyn College as part of the GASU visiting artist program.
Alain received her BFA in Studio Art from Hartford Art School in 2001 and her MA and MFA in Painting at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008. She studied painting at the Marchutz School in Aix-en-Provence, France in 1999-2000 and was a resident at Vermont Studio Center in 2007. Alain lives with her husband and son in Brooklyn, paints slowly, writes poetry, dreams of a new paradigm, and drinks too much coffee.
Statement From The Curators of
Katelyn Alain
Vision and Metaphor: A New American Epic
Steeped in the academic tradition of painting, but with a unique contemporary perspective, Alain draws from the compositional structure, historical motifs, and virtuosic brushwork of master painters across a diverse range of genres. Referencing these artists and other contemporary images to equate visual context with well known history paintings Alain upends a tradition that glorifies and romanticizes the male figure and gaze. Painted in a palette of rich hues to deep blacks and browns, Alain’s works are centered on portraiture within an abstracted dreamscape, built with layers of vibrating oil paint. Her loose and tight gestures obscure and deconstruct a singular reading as the work actively describes the distortion of memory and the way the brain alters information and experiences over time. Collectively they evoke the fleeting nature of perception, time, and the loss implicit in memory while elevating the human struggle for wisdom and change.
Alain’s new work is a singular and vital response to the current times and the work touches on a deep uneasiness- often depicting children isolated on the water- yet also heroically in charge of their own destiny or in moments of epiphany. Alain describes a need for a new mythology and this work responds, gives voice to, and continues a visual conversation that bridges the past and the now. We, the viewer, desire to explicate Alain’s figures, held in mutable suspense alighting somewhere between the past, the present, and the future unknown.
-Christie Nichols and Susan Khiar, Curtis Gallery, New Canaan, CT
Artist Statement
There is a need for a new mythology that resonates with our wants and desires in this life right now. A need to see ourselves and our children living wholly empowered and legitimately respected. A need to see real faces that reflect the truth the subconscious is already aware of. The recognition that we are all brilliantly reflected in the souls of others.
When I began these paintings I asked myself what I needed to create in the world right now. The ideas and visions flowed in and while I worked to bring them to life more questions came up: what does true equality really look like? What would the story look like if the traditionally invisible were included in our historical context? What would it be like to walk through an art museum and see paintings that reflected our truth, power, and knowing? What would my work look like if I gave thanks to the unseen daughters of history by paying tribute to the wise leaders among us who must one by one and in unison reveal the real truth? What is the truth when we dismantle the limiting boxes and categories that cage us in? And where can true freedom exist if we don't allow openness, respect and understanding even for ourselves?
I see a fresh future that is pushed into betterment by all hands on deck. I see new stories, new norms, and new leaders all around me. We are already moving swiftly over the water if we could just grab the oars and herald the young taking control of the boat.
Artist Statement 2024
The girls in my paintings are inspired by the voices that have been silenced in the past, girls I witness speaking truth to power now, the diverse heroines and archetypes of a new future. I distill current events, personal experiences and a feminist framework into a mythology of girls navigating to a new world with their inner power made visible. These children become conduits of divine feminine power that live in a metaphoric dreamscape beyond expectation and the male gaze.
Combining traditional oil painting techniques with abstractions from a rich inner experience, my life-sized characters are painted to be in contrast and conversation with romanticized historical paintings that have upheld the ideologies and constructs of colonial patriarchy. By altering the traditional narrative to elevate and enshrine empowered young girls overcoming myriad challenges, it is my hope these works will help herald a new paradigm where truth, value, respect, equality, sovereignty, and hope are emblematic of our collective identity.
CV
Education
MFA 2008 Studio Art, Painting - University of Wisconsin-Madison
MA 2007 Studio Art - University of Wisconsin-Madison
BFA 2001 Studio Art, Art History Minor - Hartford Art School -Magna cum Laude
1999-2000 Painting, Art History, French - Marchutz Painting School- Aix, France
One and Two Person Exhibitions
2019 Vision and Metaphor: A New American Epic, Curtis Gallery, New Canaan, CT (solo)
2015 Musing, Arcilesi Homberg Fine Art, New York, NY (two-person)
2009 The Age Of Illuminated Phenomena, Skotia Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (solo)
2008 Discovering Delirium: MFA Exhibition, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI
2007 How We Get Carried Away, ARTspace, Madison, WI
2005 The Self-Portraits, Women’s Studies Research Center, Madison, WI
Group Exhibitions
2024 Faces & Figures, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY
2023 Seattle Art Fair, Marloe Gallery, Seattle, WA
2023 Mental Fragments, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY
2022 Aqua Art Miami, Marloe Gallery, Miami, FL
2021 Art on Paper, Marloe Gallery, New York, NY
2021 Market Art & Design, Marloe Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
2020 Art Miami (virtual via Artsy), Arcilesi Homberg, Miami, FL
2020 Art On Paper, Marloe Gallery, New York, NY
2019 Dream Again, Plaxall Gallery, Queens, NY
2018 Speaking Out: Art in a Time of Upheaval, Gallarus Arts, Katonah, NY
2017 Holiday Show, Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2017 Single Fare 4, Highline Stages, New York, NY
2017 The Unreliable Narrator, Art Helix Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Brooklyn Comes To Westport, Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, MA
2016 Big Ten(t), Art Helix Gallery, Chicago, IL/ Brooklyn, NY
2014 Balls To The Wall, Arcilesi Homberg Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2013 Face Time: New Portraiture Now, Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2013 Single Fare 3, RH Gallery, New York, NY
2012 I See The Moon, Milavec Hakimi Gallery, New York, NY
2011 122nd Annual N.A.W.A. Exhibition, Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery, New York, NY
2011 Single Fare 2: Please Swipe Again, Sloan Fine Art, New York, NY
2011 Beast, curated by Meredith Alcarese, Trestle Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
2010 Naked, Skotia Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2010 Remnants, Fuse Gallery, New York, NY
2010 Masters Of Merriment, Volume Black, New York, NY
2010 A Cry For Help, Thinkspace, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Grand Opening Show, Skotia Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2009 My New Country, juried by Rita Gonzales of LACMA, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Gallery Artists, Stricoff Fine Art, 564 W. 25th Street, New York, NY
2008 treasure hunt, Madelyn Jordon Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
2007 O Fortuna! artsTRIBE Collaboration, Overture Center for the Arts, Madison, WI
2006 Ten in Common, Commonwealth Gallery, Madison, WI
2006 Spring Art Showcase, Promega Gallery, Madison, WI
Selected Press
"Faces & Figures," catalogue, Jim Kempner Fine Art, Feb. 8 - Mar. 10, 2024 (link)
Catherine Kirkpatrick, "Artists on Coping: Katelyn Alain," Interview on Art Spiel, Mar. 20, 2020 (link)
"Spotlight: Katelyn Alain," Artist Interview at Thalo.com, March, 2017 (link)
Modern In Denver Magazine, Summer, 2012 (link)
Studio Visit Magazine, volume 18, 2012 (link)
"Ten Words And One Shot X/I", hardcover, DEUTSCHE & JAPANER, 2011 (link)
"Katelyn Alain Paintings," The Battered Suitcase: Art and Fiction Journal, Autumn, 2010 (link)
"Katelyn Alain: Memory of the self." American Art Collector Magazine Oct. 2009: 156-57.(link)
Art Ltd Magazine Sept./Oct. 2009: Cover, 59.(link)
Kelly Crow, “A Work in Progress: Buying Art on the Web,” The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 10, 2007, D1 (link)
Kristin Czubkowski, “Sale Showcases Student Potential,” The Wisconsin Week, Nov.14, 2007
Kevin Lynch, “Art Will Carry You Away,” The Capital Times, Sept.14, 2007
Awards and Achievements
2023 Guest Artist Speaker ‘Mental Fragments’, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY
2020 Visiting Artist Guest Lecturer at Brooklyn College (GASU Visiting Artist Lecture Series)
2019 Art Ambassador for Chartpak, Inc.
2015-2018 Grumbacher Artist Sponsorship, featured in March 2016 issue of Juxtapoz Magazine
2011 Elizabeth Erlanger Memorial Award, National Association of Women Artists, New York, NY
2008 Nominated for Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant by UW-Madison Faculty
2007-08 Lois G. Roberts Scholarship for painting, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI
2006-07 Kenneth Brown and Robert Kaentje Award for painting, UW-Madison, WI
2007 Resident Artist Grant, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2006 Best of Show, Juried Invitational, State Street Gallery, Madison, WI
2001 Rudolph Zallinger Painting Award, Hartford Art School, Hartford, CT
2000 Constantine Christofides Art History Prize, American Institute, Aix, France
Artist Residencies
2007 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
Education
MFA 2008 Studio Art, Painting - University of Wisconsin-Madison
MA 2007 Studio Art - University of Wisconsin-Madison
BFA 2001 Studio Art, Art History Minor - Hartford Art School -Magna cum Laude
1999-2000 Painting, Art History, French - Marchutz Painting School- Aix, France
One and Two Person Exhibitions
2019 Vision and Metaphor: A New American Epic, Curtis Gallery, New Canaan, CT (solo)
2015 Musing, Arcilesi Homberg Fine Art, New York, NY (two-person)
2009 The Age Of Illuminated Phenomena, Skotia Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (solo)
2008 Discovering Delirium: MFA Exhibition, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI
2007 How We Get Carried Away, ARTspace, Madison, WI
2005 The Self-Portraits, Women’s Studies Research Center, Madison, WI
Group Exhibitions
2024 Faces & Figures, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY
2023 Seattle Art Fair, Marloe Gallery, Seattle, WA
2023 Mental Fragments, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY
2022 Aqua Art Miami, Marloe Gallery, Miami, FL
2021 Art on Paper, Marloe Gallery, New York, NY
2021 Market Art & Design, Marloe Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
2020 Art Miami (virtual via Artsy), Arcilesi Homberg, Miami, FL
2020 Art On Paper, Marloe Gallery, New York, NY
2019 Dream Again, Plaxall Gallery, Queens, NY
2018 Speaking Out: Art in a Time of Upheaval, Gallarus Arts, Katonah, NY
2017 Holiday Show, Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2017 Single Fare 4, Highline Stages, New York, NY
2017 The Unreliable Narrator, Art Helix Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Brooklyn Comes To Westport, Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, MA
2016 Big Ten(t), Art Helix Gallery, Chicago, IL/ Brooklyn, NY
2014 Balls To The Wall, Arcilesi Homberg Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2013 Face Time: New Portraiture Now, Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2013 Single Fare 3, RH Gallery, New York, NY
2012 I See The Moon, Milavec Hakimi Gallery, New York, NY
2011 122nd Annual N.A.W.A. Exhibition, Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery, New York, NY
2011 Single Fare 2: Please Swipe Again, Sloan Fine Art, New York, NY
2011 Beast, curated by Meredith Alcarese, Trestle Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
2010 Naked, Skotia Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2010 Remnants, Fuse Gallery, New York, NY
2010 Masters Of Merriment, Volume Black, New York, NY
2010 A Cry For Help, Thinkspace, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Grand Opening Show, Skotia Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2009 My New Country, juried by Rita Gonzales of LACMA, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Gallery Artists, Stricoff Fine Art, 564 W. 25th Street, New York, NY
2008 treasure hunt, Madelyn Jordon Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
2007 O Fortuna! artsTRIBE Collaboration, Overture Center for the Arts, Madison, WI
2006 Ten in Common, Commonwealth Gallery, Madison, WI
2006 Spring Art Showcase, Promega Gallery, Madison, WI
Selected Press
"Faces & Figures," catalogue, Jim Kempner Fine Art, Feb. 8 - Mar. 10, 2024 (link)
Catherine Kirkpatrick, "Artists on Coping: Katelyn Alain," Interview on Art Spiel, Mar. 20, 2020 (link)
"Spotlight: Katelyn Alain," Artist Interview at Thalo.com, March, 2017 (link)
Modern In Denver Magazine, Summer, 2012 (link)
Studio Visit Magazine, volume 18, 2012 (link)
"Ten Words And One Shot X/I", hardcover, DEUTSCHE & JAPANER, 2011 (link)
"Katelyn Alain Paintings," The Battered Suitcase: Art and Fiction Journal, Autumn, 2010 (link)
"Katelyn Alain: Memory of the self." American Art Collector Magazine Oct. 2009: 156-57.(link)
Art Ltd Magazine Sept./Oct. 2009: Cover, 59.(link)
Kelly Crow, “A Work in Progress: Buying Art on the Web,” The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 10, 2007, D1 (link)
Kristin Czubkowski, “Sale Showcases Student Potential,” The Wisconsin Week, Nov.14, 2007
Kevin Lynch, “Art Will Carry You Away,” The Capital Times, Sept.14, 2007
Awards and Achievements
2023 Guest Artist Speaker ‘Mental Fragments’, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY
2020 Visiting Artist Guest Lecturer at Brooklyn College (GASU Visiting Artist Lecture Series)
2019 Art Ambassador for Chartpak, Inc.
2015-2018 Grumbacher Artist Sponsorship, featured in March 2016 issue of Juxtapoz Magazine
2011 Elizabeth Erlanger Memorial Award, National Association of Women Artists, New York, NY
2008 Nominated for Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant by UW-Madison Faculty
2007-08 Lois G. Roberts Scholarship for painting, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI
2006-07 Kenneth Brown and Robert Kaentje Award for painting, UW-Madison, WI
2007 Resident Artist Grant, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2006 Best of Show, Juried Invitational, State Street Gallery, Madison, WI
2001 Rudolph Zallinger Painting Award, Hartford Art School, Hartford, CT
2000 Constantine Christofides Art History Prize, American Institute, Aix, France
Artist Residencies
2007 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
The studio of Katelyn Alain is in Gowanus Brooklyn, NY. To inquire about available works, schedule a studio visit, a museum exhibition, visiting artist lecture, or interview please
email: katelynalain at gmail dot com
email: katelynalain at gmail dot com
All images Copyrighted ©2024 Katelyn Alain
Not to be reproduced without consent